Becoming the Enemy
by Endevorer
Summary: Hiccup has received a strange book full of knowledge about dragons. Finding a potion that grants strength and the designs for a special arrow, he sets out to slay the Night Fury. Except now he finds himself slowly losing his humanity bit by bit... while simultianously changing the Night Fury into just an ordinary boy. And then things got even stranger. Multi-Transformation fic.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: Dream Works and Cressida Cowell own the How to Train Your Dragon franchise. **

**Inspired by: "I Hear Him Scream" by Rift-Raft and "Lightning and Death Itself" by Che1st**

**This fic uses the stage of the first movie, but a drastically different storyline. There's also dozens of book and TV series elements that are being incorperated into the story's setting. Including characters and mythology gags. They are not important to understanding the story, but help.**

**In case the summary failed communicate the stated intentions of the fic, this is a transformation centric story, though no actual transformations occur for first few chapters. There is going to be plenty of transformation in this story with more happening later on. The most notable and obvious one is the sort of species reversal of Toothless and Hiccup will experience.**

**Update Nov 10: There has to be some sort of record. I've essentially changed the Summary like 6 times by now, because I could not decide what conveyed information the best.**

**I hope you all enjoy the following chapter and please remember to submit constructive critism and ask questions.**

* * *

"Trader Johann is here early!" I heard one of the dock workers say. Unlike other Vikings, this man had a bucket instead of a more traditional helmet. "Trader Johann!" he cried again before he capsized his own boat in excitement. His name was Bucket. It paid to know the names of your customers. The man a wide variety of talents from what I heard, artist and predicting weather among other things.

Berk was always one of my favorite stopping points. Full of a wide variety of customers willing to barter and wealthy enough to potentially take my whole stock if the need arose, there was a profit to be made in here. Unfortunately, that only applied to the best of days. A whiff and a glance of the harbor told me that a battle had happened recently, probably this morning. It would certainly explain the flock I encountered on my way.

From experience, I knew it meant three things for my little mobile store: First, it meant that people were more willing to deal with me as I probably had valuable supplies that might have been destroyed by recent events. Second, it meant that people had less to trade with. More than once, had I come to a battlescared island only to find the village had every intention of trading with me, only to not have anything to offer in return. That led to the third thing, the village might be more willing to simply take those valuables from me. Which is why I was wary as I moved my ship to dock. Though, admittedly, the cries of relief and excitement I received did make it seem like that last possibility was unlikely.

My ship stopped at one of the still functioning piers. And with as much strength as I could muster, I heaved the boarding plank onto the dock. I was getting too old for this, maybe I need to get an assistant. "Ah , Berk! My Favorite of all the islands I travel to!" I said in my most excited tone.

Bucket who had in the time I spent mooring my craft climbed up to the pier. "Where have you been this time, Trader Johann?" I could see others either rushing to my ship or to their own homes. For me, that was a good sign. And with any luck, they would tell their chieftain for me.

"Oh, Bucket!" I said as I invited the one handed man on board. "The things I have seen, the people I have met, I'd need a swig to regale you!" I turned my back to him and turned to the gathering crowd. "And fortunately, today, I have plenty of time to do that." I stepped up on a chest, which I had filled a variety of things. "All-Day today, whatever it is you're looking for, I can assure you you'll find it here!" Everyone on the docks immediately began boarding. In fact there were so many of them that they had to start a line to get on my ship. "I've got food of all sorts, spices, exotic animals, works of art, jewelry, not to mention knowledge!" I loved showman ship; not only was it fun, but it certainly made people even more receptive when trading with me.

Under normal circumstances, I would not be spending a whole day moored to a single port. Usually, I would spend at most an hour then sail off to distant lands. This was not a normal circumstance: catching a village that was both a recent victim of a dragon attack and still possessed enough goods to trade with me was not an opportunity I would want to pass up. Oh and I had a package to deliver to Stoic and I expect him to be very late to meet me. Best not to bother a man who has to manage rebuilding a village.

After one hour, it was clear that the highest selling products would be anything edible. Obviously due to the large amount of livestock taken, granaries demolished, and crops burned; dragon raids always made the price of food go up. But since I was feeling nice, I decided not to raise my prices past their normal values. Before I knew what had happened, I was starting to run low on food. "I am sorry, Berk, but it seems that I must discontinue the sale food stuffs for the rest of the day," I had to say to them. "Any more and I might have to start eating my own clothes. But don't worry, next time, I'll see about bringing a boat load!" They laughed at that, but that announcement did not stop a large chunk of my potential customers from leaving the line before getting on my store.

Soon the line thinned out before disappearing all together, leaving me with the two most awkward Vikings in Berk. Fishlegs Ingerman and Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third were the only two I know on Berk who were interested in my more… unusual materials. Books, writing supplies, and other forms of knowledge and knowledge related things were not exactly the most popular thing for Vikings, but there was always someone on every island who reveled in the stuff. The two of them took their time, knowing full well the things they were interested in were rarely fought over. They were making idle chatter over what they should or should not buy.

Fishlegs came over to me. "Trader Johann, you wouldn't happen to have any botany books would you?" he said.

"Fresh out of those, I am afraid, Mister Fishlegs." I replied. "But I can easily fix that. Would you want me to put you down for a special order?" I pulled out a note pad and a pen.

Fishlegs nodded. "That'd be great. Would you want me to pay you right now?" We both filled out the note pad with the order details and before long only Hiccup and I remained on my ship. No one else seemed to be interested in my stock and Stoic the Vast still had not arrived.

I turned my attention to Hiccup, the chief's son. "Anything catch you eye, Hiccup?"

"No, not really." I heard the teenager say. I could tell when people were feeling down and boy did he have it. As a trader, my job was to know the needs people have an provide a solution. Give people the right item and they will trade you a different item that was not worth as much to them, but might be worth more to someone else. That was how we made profits. It was slower and more tedious than simply exchanging coins, but so long as I had enough to feed myself and I had a stable job, I couldn't complain. I knew enough about him from his father and personal experience to know what was causing his depression. Unfortunately Hiccup's problem, was not something that a simple item could fix. I could offer him relief, but I could not offer him anything approaching to a true solution. "Unless you, I don't know, had a Night Fury stanched somewhere around here I could kill."

"Night Fury?" I asked for confirmation. "The Dragon Raid this morning I take it?"

"Yeah." He said, as he raised his right hand to pretend he was pinching an invisible grape. "I was this close to killing it!"

I sat down on one of my treasure chests around the ship. "Would you like to talk about it?" I offered, dropping my normally exciting tone.

"I'm sorry. It's just been frustrating…" He inhaled deeply. "Early this morning, we had a raid, I snuck out… again. I found the Night Fury attacking one of the towers and before I could shoot it down, I get attacked by a Monstrous Nightmare. In my panic, I tried to shoot it, but my bola launcher had a misfire…"

"Bola launcher?" I asked.

"Yeah, I made it… Since I couldn't, you know, throw it myself, I made something throw it for me. Based it off those crossbow diagrams I got from you last time." That was interesting. For someone so young, Hiccup had managed to translate the designs of a weapon and redesign them for a completely different use. "It got crushed by the Nightmare, but not before it entangled some unfortunate Viking." He gave a strained laugh, which I could tell was an attempt to make the event seem less painful than it really was. "Well dad saved me… and the guy did live. Apparently he, well, actually she, now has a date, too. So I guess that means, I can't even have a proper misfire."

"There's always next time. Never know you might get lucky."

"Yeah, I know...I just wish, I wasn't…" He gestured to himself. "This."

"You just gestured to all of you…"

"Trade Johann, I just want to be able to take down one dragon," he said. "Just one, and my life will be so much better. Can you offer me something to me do that, please?"

This was not the first time that Hiccup had asked me to give him tools he could use to defeat dragons. Ever since the boy turned ten, he wanted as much knowledge he could, especially knowledge relating to dragons and weapons. And at this time, I had exhausted everything in my trade route that could conceivably aid him… well… almost everything. "Wait, right here," I said as I opened a hatch to go below deck. "I might have something."

While I had the top of my ship devoted entirely to be the store, below deck was both my living quarters and extra storage. Behind the stairs I used to get down, I had a chest. A very special chest as it stored all of the items I deemed would be impossible to sell to anyone. Included in it was a fake chicken made entirely out of a strange substance that made it a rather limp statue, a hallow ball that when filled with water and heated by fire released steam and spun around, a case containing a powder that produced sparks when lit on fire and the description of how to make it, and book covered in black dragon scales.

If it were a normal book, I might have sold it off years ago, but it was not a normal book. For starters it was written in three separate languages, sometimes switching between them in the same page. This alone made it incredibly difficult and time consuming to read. The other factor that made the book an incredibly difficult to sell item was the fact that anytime I found someone who would have been able to understand it, circumstances have forced me to abandon the trade. I once had a guy nearly drown, in a desert no less, before I could have given him the book. Even tried to get rid of it once, only for a fisherman a different island to return to me as an item to barter for trade. I could swear that it was cursed, so I tried not to look into it. About the only thing I was sure of was that the book dealt with dragons based on the pictures I saw in it before I deemed it too dangerous for me to read.

I did not want to be responsible for the son of Stoic the Vast's death, but somehow, I felt that I should give at least _try_ to give it to the lad. I sighed, making a decision. Hiccup did not need to know the almost supernatural nature of that book. If the boy by some decree of the Norns or the Fates or whoever else manipulated Destinies, was not affected by the strange curse bestowed on that volume. Then, that was that. I would be done dealing with such an accursed object being on my ship.

I took the tome and climbed back upstairs. "This Hiccup," I said in an excited tone, "is a very special book. It is the last thing I have to offer you to be a dragon slayer." I showed him the black scaled book, expecting Thor to strike the boy death or Poseidon to take the whole ship. The boy took the book and began looking at its contents at an alarming rate. No freak accidents of bad luck happened. I was somewhat surprised, I had expected something to happen.

"This is… interesting…" Hiccup said. "It's got some Norse in it… and uh a lot of… other words I can't read."

"Yes, Norse, Latin, and one other language I did not recognize," I said.

"Where did you get it?"

"It was given to me by an old man… gave him some clothes and he gave me this in return, but I could never find someone willing or able to buy it before."

"Why not?" Hiccup said as he showed me a page in the book. In it there was a dragon, a Monstrous Nightmare, a vicious and powerful beast, recoiling in fear… from a black and yellow stripped eel. That puzzled me, why was one of the most terrifying and deadly of all dragonkind so deathly afraid of an eel. "There's a ton of dragon slaying stuff in this book. It says here that most dragons are terribly afraid of some types of eel. I gotta' see if that trick works." Note to self, buy stripped eels and test that. Would be handy next time I had to go through that flock of Terrors by that one island. They always seemed to know just where I would show up and sneak onto the ship without my knowing.

"So I take it you'd like to have it?" I said lazily.

"Yes, I do. Well, what you want for it?" Hiccup said. "I don't think you want another spyglass for something so valuable…"

"Yeah, I have five, and I only got the two eyes," I joked. "Tell you what, if you find anything else worthwhile in the book, tell me about it next time. And see if you can get your father here, I have been waiting forever for him. I have something I need to deliver to him." Just the fact that book would never plague me again was all the payment I needed. That plus, giving the son of a chief a present could have several positive effects in my future dealings with him later.

"Thank you, Trader Johann." Hiccup said a bit more jubilant than before. He flipped through the pages of his new possession, looking for anything of interest to him. And suddenly, without any warning, he burst out in a sprint. "Yes, yes! This is absolutely perfect," I heard him say. Apparently he found something that was really exciting.

I saw a big grin form on his face. And then he was off, leaving me alone. It seemed, that boy can run fast with the right motivation. I complimented myself on a job well done. Though I did not really gain anything physical from the trade, I knew I gained something that was equally important. I just hoped it would not kill the boy.

Now came the reason I was really here.

* * *

The Great Hall was empty, save for myself. My best friend, Gobber, and my brother, Spitelout, had left.

I needed to think about what I needed to do next.

My son and Dragon Training did not make sense. I respect Gobber's opinions on the matter, but there was no telling the kind of damage that boy would cause. I felt sorry for what group that the one handed blacksmith would stick the boy in. As was tradition, we would divide all applicants for Dragon Training into groups of up to eight trainees, with the intention to ensure each group had an average level of skill and to form a cohesive bond as a fighting unit. This year, there was probably fifty going through Dragon Training. This unfortunately meant that, Hiccup, being the worst Viking, will without a doubt be put in the same group as that Hofferson girl and Snotlout, two of the best our generation had to offer. Everyone else in the group would be at best average combatants.

Sometimes, I wonder if my son was destined to be a Viking. He could barely lift a sword, let alone fight with one. He was clumsy and destructive. His every action outside of supervision had disastrous consequences. And I knew just how badly my son wanted to change that. That was why he was obsessed with the Night Fury. That creature _strategically_ tore down the defenses of any settlement it hit. It had cunning and power to match it, and no one had ever seen it. It was the ultimate prize, the goal of any Viking to find and kill that beast. Any Viking, even one as bad as Hiccup, would become an instant hero the moment they slew it. After that, no one would doubt him ever again. No one _could _doubt him again.

In a way, I admired his zeal and determination. I just wish that innocent people were not caught in the crossfire. Things weren't so bad that I had to consider disowning him. And he wasn't a total screw up, just… only most of the time. Life was hard on both of us, especially since Val left us when Hiccup was barely just a babe. Hopefully, she was speaking to Odin about ways to help us. Who knows, maybe my son will turn out to be the greatest Viking ever and he was just going through an awkward childhood phase. _A man can dream for his little boy to have a growth spurt can't he?_

And not every hiccup he had ended in total disaster. After all, none of us, except for the parents, knew his victim today was a woman… Between a name like Magnus and his, er, her appearance at the time, none of us could have actually seen the difference. Now, she was considering renaming herself to Hildegard and having wedding arrangements.

I sighed. I needed to see Hiccup and tell him my plans. Which as coincidence would have it, my son came inside the Great Hall for me. He appeared to be short of breath and covered with sweat. That worried me, because I knew that meant he had another one of his hair brained schemes cooking up in his head. "Dad, I've been waiting for you. Trader Johann came by an hour ago. He said he wanted to meet you on the docks." That relieved me as it meant my son wasn't going to be something incredibly reckless and foolish.

"Oh, so what business he have for me?" I chuckled. It was fortunate for us that aid had come for us. Though why was he so early? The was supposed to come by our island near every quarter, not two weeks after his last visit.

"He just said he had something for you, didn't tell me what."

"Alright, I'll meet up with Johann, but after that, we need to have a talk."

I saw my son's face form into a frown. "Dad, if it's about today, I'll try… to make… fix things…"

"No, son," I said solemnly, "It's about your future. Don't worry, son, I know you have what it takes to to be a proper Viking, you just have to…"

"Stop being all of this," he gestured to himself. "I get it dad." I saw him try to force a small smile. Both of us parted ways.

I went to the docks and found Johann there, idly singing a tune. "Ah Stoic, you're finally here. Welcome to my store." He gave a polite bow and motioned his arms with a dramatic flair as he gestured for me to come aboard.

"I see you've done business without informing me you had arrived," I said, in a nonthreatening tone. I liked Johann, he was a good friend, a trust worthy ally, and a fantastic sailor. After all, no normal man braves the Barbaric Archipelago, in a ship stuffed to the brim with valuable cargo and proceeded to do that constantly, year after year. But as good as he was, I needed to make sure that he respected the rules of the island as its chieftain. "And you are still here despite not having any customers. You usually pack up and leave when that happens."

"I humbly apologize if my conduct has insulted you, but I needed to give us some private time. That is hard to do with a ship loaded with customers…" The merchant shook his head. "And no offense to you, Stoic, but I do not trust leaving my ship unattended in anyone's harbor."

"Your reasoning fair, and for that, I shall forgive you. Though next time, I expect you send someone to inform me. Now, my son has informed me you have something for me. I assume this matter is important." The docks were mostly empty at this time, most of the men who were normally worked there were out fishing at this time and none of them seemed to have enough free time to listen in our conversation.

"Yes, very." The trader brew a bottle and a pair of mugs from one of his chests. He tossed me one of the mugs, which I caught. By the All-Father, whatever this was it was important enough to take out drinks, strong drinks. The merchant deftly uncorked the bottle and pour the beverage down our glass. It liquid fizzed and bubbled, almost spilling out of our cups. "In the past few weeks, us traders have received reports of increased dragon activity. Far more than in years prior. Also, we can confirm two attacks happening on the same date at the same time, and sightings by witnesses claim that both raids featured a Night Fury."

I just stood there my mouth agape. "Who were hit? And how bad was it?"

"Both the Meatheads and Bog Burglars were hit hard, with the same result you face today. We would have expected a second raid today, if it were not for the heavy casualties that the Meatheads inflicted upon their attackers this season."

I drank my glass. When there was only one, it had been trouble enough as the monster took down towers and siege weapons, leaving the Viking vulnerable and forcing them to spend valuable time and resources building replacements. Night Furies were _not _part of _every_ raid against _every_ village, but they were a key component of any raid that went against the largest or most heavily defended settlements."Loki must be laughing his pants off right now."

"And that's not all. In light of this news, the Oswald the Agreeable wants to set a trap for them." I saw the trader take a sip. "Currently, their village is the only one of the Great Tribes left untouched by this season of raids. So now he's declaring a 'Thing' on his lands to get as many warriors as he can. Or at the very least, develop strategies and share information. He thinks that allowing the dragons to have this much of an advantage could prove fatal to us in the long run and wants to cull their numbers to a more manageable level. So, I was sent."

"But that's not the purpose of an Inter-Tribal Council Meeting!" I said loudly. Oswald the Agreeable was the Chief of the Berserker Tribe, self-proclaimed to be the most violent and blood thirsty in the whole of the Barbaric Archipelago. To people who did not know him as I did, the title of "the Agreeable", sounded out of place for such a vicious and blood thirsty tribe. It makes much more sense when you know about _what_ it actually _means._ He was a great leader who usually listened to the counsel of others before making important decisions. He respected everyone's opinion, including the ones of those who disagreed with him. However, if you ever_ disagreed_ with him, you had to be prepared to defend it, both _physically_ and _mentally_.

"So then… what is the purpose of the Thing? I thought you Cheifs all did planned violent things at those meetings."

"That we do, but mostly, the meetings are there to reconfirm Alliances, proclaim deeds made, and signing treaties… among other things. It's just that it normally is not used to form a war council _and _form a warband _before_ the Thing is called." And because it meant I had to abandon my plans of searching for the dragon nest in order to attend. And because, by law of the chiefs, Hiccup and Snotlout had to attend alongside me. This meant a serious change in my original plans… which also meant I needed to reconvene the Hooligan Tribe in the Great Hall for another meeting, less than a few hours from the last. I drank from my mug again, thanking Johann for his foresight. "What are the terms of the invitation?"

The merchant pulled out a small envelope, which was kept closed by the wax seal of the Berserker tribe. I broke the seal and read the letter.

_In light of recent events, it has come to my attention that we need to gather our military resources together. The dragons have become more daring. Their numbers have grown more numerous as of late, potentially allowing them to form attacks with both greater frequency and with more ferocity than ever before. If the normal movement and patterns are the same as they usually are, then I expect my Tribe to be the last of the Great Tribes to suffer an attack from the enemy. Therefore, I propose to you all to give up your yearly searches for the Dragon Nest and instead deal with the immediate matter of the Dragon Hordes._

_For this purpose, I invite you all to my home, Fort Sinister. On my honor, I shall grant you shelter, protection, and food under the Code of Hospitality for up to the maximum duration of two weeks after the arrival of the latest chief or to three days after the Dragon Raid has been routed, whichever is more appropriate. In exchange, I offer food and wealth proportional to the number of dragons slain, accounting for differences in size and power for each breed, divided evenly between the Tribes who participate and an additional sum, specific to each tribe, proportionate to the forces brought, with respect to fallen warriors and destroyed warships._

_We must cull their numbers before they grow too powerful,  
Oswald, the Agreeable  
Great High Chieftain of the Berserker Tribe._

"As you can see," Trader Johann said to me as he finished his drink. "He's very serious."

I nodded. Now I had no choice but to accept his invitation. While I had wanted to take the fight directly to the dragon's home and permanently end the war, it was far more important to me that I ensured the future of the Hooligan Tribe. Our food stores were pillaged and destroyed and I knew this winter would be hard on all of us. And I knew that the Berserkers were a tribe that was seemingly blessed by Freya to always have bountiful crops, allowing them to be one of the largest harvests in the Archipelago. Even with all of those things, I knew that Oswald would be hard pressed to fully pay every tribe who attended this… Thing, blessing by a fertility goddess or not. He was desperate. But, my tribe needed every advantage it could get. We needed the payment Oswald was offering, even if in a small part. I finished my drink and handed the empty mug to Trader Johann. "Will you be coming with us?"

"No, I've deviated from my scheduled route too much already. I have to get back to it now." I nodded and left the Trader alone.

* * *

Even after parting with dad, I still couldn't help but be excited. How could I not when I had the chance to fix everything? I could finally be the Viking my father always wanted, and it was all right in the bag I carried under my shoulder.

I've always been ridiculed by how strange and un-Viking like I was. I am scrawny for a Viking, barely able to lift all but the lightest of weapons; I should have been like my father who when he was my age broke rocks with his skull. I am I am a walking disaster waiting to happen, it seemed my every action left someone on Berk in the infirmary; I should have been able to live up to my preferred title: "Hope and Heir to the Tribe of Hairy Hooligans". And today, I will be as I should have been.

I had only needed to skim through the book Trader Johann had given me before I had an idea of how it was organized. Inside the book, there were a variety of articles. Each article took up about two pages even, with no deviations and each article was set up so that both pages could be read at the same time. Typically, the left page contained an exposition describing the benefits and the right page contained the instructions. The problem was the languages used. Trade Johann had been right about that the book have used 3 separate languages, sometimes all of them in the same page. There was no pattern I could discern and it all seemed to be completely random. I could easily tell that a solid fourth of the articles were Norse enough for me to use. Unfortunately for me, I only knew Norse. Which made me slightly regret that dad had opted not to send me to Rome when I was little, well, littler so I could have learned Latin. And I had no clue what the third language was.

Based on the fact there were tiny boxes of text scattered, again at random, throughout the whole of the book, my best guess was that it was notebook of some sort. Probably written from the notes of multiple people who all spoke different languages, and it was haphazardly assembled into a single dragon scaled tome. The only thing I was fairly sure of was that the book, with one out of place exception, spoke about nothing but dragons and dragon related subjects. It was like the Book of Dragons, but covered the parts which were not in that book. Such as that striped eels cause a sort of panic reflex in dragons and that a certain type of tall grass can be used to knock out dragons. Everything in it… so many dragon related facts and I got it for practically nothing. Once I figured out this book enough, I decided I would show it to Fishlegs first, to help me understand it better. He would be estatic… Then I would probably show it to Father.

Of course, that was not the most important thing to me right now. That one seeming exception to dragon related subjects I found, was the recipe to a some sort of potion. According to the parts I could read, the potion "enhanced physical performance: heightened coordination and boosted physical strength". Its name and a large chunk of its description were in some other language than Norse, but thankfully, I could see that everything on the recipe was in the language I could read. For a moment I thought it was strange that a book that offered nothing but dragon related information would offer such a thing. Of course, then I read that the description featured mostly dragon related materials in its recipe. Such as, shavings from a Gronckle's horns, a Deadly Nadder spike, and blood from a Monstrous Nightmare. The ingredients and their preparation were… unusual. I mean what kind of normal use of chemistry requires you to inscribe a pot with chalk before using it? This told me whatever I was about to do wasn't a purely physical use of chemistry the same way metalworking was. It was… magic, sorcerery. But if it got my dad to respect me more, I think I could live with it.

Gathering the ingredients, except for the last one, was uneventful. I only needed to go pick some random plants, loot remains from the slain dragons, or get salt. In fact, the only thing that was difficult for me to get was the last ingredient, a berry from a deadly nightshade. And I only know of two people in the whole of Berk who had berries from that plant. Unfortunately, they were the twins. I walked up to the porch of Ruff and Tuff's house and knocked the door. "Well, would you look who the cat dragged in?" Ruffnut said.

"I know, he does look like some sort of hair ball!" her brother said.

"Uh… Hi!" I said, trying ignore the statement. "I need a favor…"

"No," the brother said, "we're not helping you do something incredibly stupid and dangerous."

"Unless we get front seats," said Ruff, which got her a thumbs up from her brother.

"Tell us what you need, but make it good."

I did not want the twins involved in what I was about to do. Not the least because several of the ingredients my potion needed were extremely poisonous. That and because they had a track record of being bad at keeping secrets. "Uh. I would like one of those deadly nightshade berries you keep." I knew they had them, they liked to brag about it.

"Oh, are you going to poison someone?" Ruff.

"Or are you going to eat it? " Tuff.

"Cook it then eat it…" I said dryly.

"Yeah, we should definitely watch that." Tuff.

"Nothing quite like a good suicide." Ruff. This conversation brought up many uncomfortable questions that I sincerely believed I did not want to have answered. At that point both of them slammed their heads together.

"Hey, look, I'm sure you both have got very busy schedules." I said to them. "You should probably groom your yak or polish your axe or use your axe to polish your yak."

"That's a great idea," Ruff.

"But we still want to watch you kill yourself." Tuff.

"Look, I kinda want to do this without anyone watching, you understand?"

The twins looked insulted so they turned their backs to me and began discussing something. "Fine," the brother said. "But we want something for our services."

"We want what's left of your bolas launcher," the sister said.

"Yeah, so we can finally make it clear to everyone that Ruffnut is a girl." At that point the brother received a boot to the foot. "Ow! Ow!" he said as he leapt up and down while holding his damaged foot in the air.

I nodded in agreement and returned a few minutes later returned to the house with a wheelbarrow full of the discarded parts and pieces of my machine that died in the line of duty this morning. "Pleasure doing business with you. Ow!" said the twins at the same time as they had apparently engaged in a slugfest the moment I left.

They only broke their fighting long enough to point their fingers at a jar, which contained a single swollen black berry swimming in a green liquid. Trust the twins to pickle an extremely poisonous berries and place one of them in a jar. _Best not to think about why they have them in the first place too much, Hiccup._ I left the twins and went back home.

The Chieftain's home was one of the longest standing structures in all of Berk, one of only a handful of buildings that had been around for more than a decade. People said that my father used his tremendous strength to build the home for his bride to be with his bare hands. Did I believe them? Yes. And I knew for a fact that this same strength had been used to fend off dozens dragon attacks. It had been hard to believe growing up. I wanted so much when I was kid to be strong like that, yet as I grew older, I learned I could never do the things he did. _And tonight that's going to change._

Father had apparently not returned home yet, which was fine by me. It gave me as much time as I needed to do what I needed to do. I lit the fire place. Before, I did anything else, I sat down and prayed to Odin, the All-Father. While it was true he was a powerful warrior, I also knew he was a great magician and wielded vast power. And whatever it was I was attempting to do, I believed it fell under his domain. And I needed all the help I could muster. "Please, please, just this once, help me, All-Father. Let me be stronger, just a little. I'll take even average strength if you want," I prayed. I continued this for a few minutes until I decided the god had enough from me.

Then I began the potion. I took one of the older cooking pots in the house, one of the ones we did not use any more due to its age, and wrote chalk inscriptions in it that were described in another entry in the book. I did not want to accidentally poison my father so I needed a pot that he was unlikely to use again. I prepared the ingredients as the book described. The only trouble I had was with trying to shred the Gronckle horns. I used a metal file to slowly grind the Gronckle horn away. Unsurprisingly the file broke by the time I had collected enough dust from it. I threw the remains of the file away.

I placed the contents of the pot on the fireplace and waited patiently. I could hear the liquid simmering and bubbling inside the pot. The sound grew louder and louder until it the pot started to violently shake. I grabbed the pot and poured its contents into a mug. I was not expecting the resulting liquid to be so… viscous. For starters, it had an orange glow and poured slowly like molasses out of the pot. It resembled molten metal more than something I should drink. And for a moment I thought it was, if it weren't for the surprisingly sweet smell and the steam.

I took the cup and raised it to my lips. Unfortunately, this was going to be the most uncomfortable part in all of this. And that was when I realized the catch. If I failed to properly prepare the drink, dad would come home to find himself without a son… I tried to keep my mind off of the possibility that he would have been better off if I failed. I drank it all. My insides burned. Everything went dark.

Then I felt… a pressure against my shoulder. I awoke slowly, my head felt like something was running around through it and my vision was blurry. I could make out something red. I blinked a few times, clearing the weariness from my sight. Each time, I saw my father a bit clearer than last. "D-daad-d?" I said wearily.

"I need to speak with you, son."

I lifted my head up and tried to rub the sleep from my eyes. I felt so tired. Other than the fact my head felt like it had been hit by Snotlout and that my stomach felt like I had bricks for dinner, I didn't feel any different. "Yeah?" I said with a groan. "Go ahead…"

"Are you alright?" My dad showed some concern and placed his absolutely huge hands on his forehand. "You don't feel like you have a fever."

"Oh, that's just lunch… Really bad lunch." I sorta lied, but sorta not. "Now what were you saying?"

"You get your wish," my dad said. "Dragon Training, I will be your teacher." That surprised me. Wasn't Gobber supposed to teach dragon training class? And wasn't dad supposed to go off searching for the Dragon Nest again? Maybe it had something to do with what Trade Johann had me get my father for.

"Uh, what?" I said, becoming more coherent with every breath.

Dad ignored me and gave me a heavy axe. "You'll need this."

"But dad, how are you going to train me when you're off sailing?" I said as I stood up.

"Change of plans, you'll be coming with me!"

"Where?" I said sheepishly. "And why? Isn't Gobber supposed to teach the Dragon Killing stuff?" I haven't exactly traveled far from home, mostly because dad, and everyone else, liked keeping me in a place they could keep track of. But I have been to other islands before, visiting other chiefs.

"You're old enough now, you have to attend the Thing when it's called. Oswald the Agreeable has called for us and we are going. And because of that, I decided I should have a more… direct hand in your training, at least until the Thing is over." The 'Thing', or as it was more formally called the Inter-Tribal Council Meeting, was a meeting of various Viking Tribes for a variety of reasons. To my knowledge, there was not a regularly scheduled time for it, and Vikings just called them when they wanted to show off. Mostly for peaceful purposes, but there were times and occasions they were called for war… and dad wanted me to be part of that. I had never been there to my memory, though I knew some of the people who likely would be attending. Specifically, because Oswald was calling which meant it'd be on his land, that meant I'd be meeting Dagur, again. I really hope he became less psychotic since the last time I saw him.

"So why call the Thing now…?"

I saw my dad sigh. "Oswald thinks he'll be the next target of the Dragon Raids and he wants us to stand by his side." I gulped like I was trying to swallow a stone.

"But dad," I said.

"Remember," my dad said as he picked up the waraxe for a moment only to return it to me. "When you carry this axe, you carry all of us." My dad then went on a spiel about walking, talking, and thinking like a Viking.

"The conversation is feeling very one-sided," but I did agree with my dad. I didn't want to be _me_ anymore. He ignored my statement and continued on.

"Now, do we have a deal?" I nodded. My dad gave me a smile as he picked up the old cooking pot that I used earlier tonight. "Good, we'll set sail in the morning. And… Boy what'd you make?" He showed me that the pot's bottom had completely vanished, as if something took a bite of it.

"Don't know, but that pot was falling apart anyways." I lied, well partially. I have no idea why it melted like that. "Musta melted." My dad put the cooking pot away and drew a newer one.

That was when I noticed two very important details: First, we were going to intercept a Dragon Raid, meaning I had another shot at the Night Fury. And this time, if I downed it there, I would get the respect of not just my tribe, but _every_ Tribe in the Barbaric Archipelago. Second, I was holding the large and heavy axe my dad gave me with a _single hand_. The weight was still there, but it just felt… less than I was used to. I was so wrapped up in my dad's "conversation" that I hadn't noticed what happened. _Thanks, Odin. I owe you one._

* * *

"The Hunters have returned!" "All Glory to the Flight!" I heard as we flew into our Home. My Kin's cheers and howls of joy rebounded all over the Nest. I turned and looked behind me, seeing those that flew with me proud and content, happily carrying our haul. In all, it seemed like every other member of our Flight had a mouth full of food, one of those Herd-made wooden cases that held it, or the body of fallen prey. _Our Lord was going to be pleased with us,_ I thought. _Maybe mother, too._ _No, do not get too hopeful._

As mother told me, the Herd, though fierce and vicious as the Kin, offered glory and food unlike any other. And our Lord and the Flight Commanders thought it the best use of our time and lives to pit our Flight constantly against the Herd. I did not understand their reasoning why, since we often lost many of the Kin in our Hunts against the Herd, but that was what was done to receive honor and glory in my Flight. My mother says that I was young and naive, and that time will let me understand things more. I did not doubt her, when she could hear me that is.

Long ago, the cavern had apparently bled fire and liquid rock, now it was a place full of roosts. I landed at one of the ledges near the roof of the massive cavern and looked at what was to happen next. I was not part of the ground Hunting team, so I was not expected to take anything from the Herd in the Hunt. Those Kin that had been my Flight had began emptying their mouths of food, dropping the contents into a massive pit in the ground. Even in the darkness, I could see that our King opened his massive maw.

Our Lord was truly massive. A beast far larger and far greater than any other Kin that I had seen or heard. His body seemed to be nothing short of an impervious armor, his sheer size alone gave the impression of great and boundless power, and his voice was nothing short of… beautiful. It had this charm to it that you had to hear it to be believed. Yet, the whole Nest knew he was trapped here, unable to escape. That did nothing to stop our loyalty to him. From him came things such as names, gifts, and power each prized greatly in the nest. I do not know how or why he was trapped in the Nest, but he promises one day to be set free and that on that day, those who serve him will be rewarded. And until day comes, we make these offerings off food.

**"Yes, very good,"**I heard our King roar. **"Your second Hunt as a Squire was very plentiful, Night Fury. Your mother raised you well."** I flinched a bit when I realized my King was speaking to me. There were a over a dozen other Squires and Knights in the Flight with me, all of which had more seniority that I did. The fact that our Lord went out of his way to notice me was important. I was frozen, unable to think of what to make as a proper response.

"Ha-ha-ha. My Lord, you have scared the newest member of my Flight," I heard a new voice laugh. I knew who it was. I turned to my left to see one of the Kin land down near me. He was a Monstrous Nightmare. They also had a nasty habit of lighting themselves on fire, sometimes for defense, sometimes because they felt like it. While Nightmares were always expected to be strong and powerful, I knew the one beside me was that and more. Because he was so old, he had many names since served the King faithfully, but his most well known name was One Eye. True to that name, his left eye had been gouged out so badly it left a vicious scar on his face. "Most of the Kin, even a rare and elusive Night Fury, cannot stand beneath your gaze without being reduced to a statue."

Our Lord only just laughed at his servant's jest. **"How could I not take note of a potential future Flight Commander?"** As my King said those words, I had images, ideas, and thoughts form inside my head. And I had the distinct feeling they were not my own. I saw myself, older and stronger, standing over a mound of smoking bodies, both Herd and Kin alike. The one nearest to me was that of my teacher's, burned to a smoldering husk. Which was the perferred method of succession for new Flight Commanders. Behind me were… these small, round objects made of this yellowish metal. I did not understand what they were or what they meant. Apparently my King understood my confusion and replaced them with salmon and trout and then I understood he meant wealth.

"It was my honor to serve you my King," I bowed my head as I pushed the thoughts aside. As a Night Fury, I was born to be one of the most powerful and respected Kin under the service of our King. As a Night Fury, I had black scales that offered both protection and stealth in the night sky and Breath that could demolish small hillsides. In my short time Hunting the Herd, those two things made me feel nearly invincible. No one could see me, let alone fight me. By virtue of my race, I was automatically raised to status of Squire when I came of age only a moon ago. But now my King had hopes high enough for me to replace One Eye. I gulped. I was suddenly less proud of myself.

**"Now, if only there were more of you," **said our King, referring to the fact that me and my mother were the only Night Furies in the whole nest. And as far as I knew, in the whole ocean. **"In time, I will offer you power and glory, maybe even a name of your own."** A name… issued from our King was a great status symbol. A congratulatory sign that came with it great distinction and honors. I normally did not need one as the only other Night Fury in the nest was my mother, who already has a name of her own.

"A name my Lord?" I asked cautiously. But a name was a mark of prestige, a sign of favor from our Lord.

**"Yes, but you have still yet to earn that honor, this good haul only serves to make up for your previous blunder." **he said flatly. I reeled back, ashamed of myself. My first Hunt produced many casualties by accident as I failed to understand how to defeat the stone and wooden spires the Prey built. That soured my reputation within my Flight and required that temporarily commoners had to be diverted from a healthier Flight. **"The other Flight Commanders will be returning soon and we have things to discuss that do not concern you yet."**

"You are dismissed for now, Squire," I heard my master say. "Go and see to your needs." I bowed my head again and flew out of the large hole in the Nest's roof.

I flew to one of the beaches that surrounded the Nest. Though I knew my Lord's intentions were well meaning, I could not help but feel the images he gave me were nothing short of horrifying. Though I was young and strong and my teacher was aged and weakening with each moon, I just could not wrap my mind around having to kill my aging teacher. And what if One Eye knew of that intention? Would he take preemptive measures to protect himself? _Best not to think about that._

I landed near the water's edge. I saw other Kin there. I beheld two heads of a lone zippleback, amidst the small crowd of Gronckles and Nadders. All of them approached me cautiously, slowly as if I were a fragile egg. I went closer to them, and they reeled back. They were commoners, lowly Kin who did not distinguish themselves by blood, merit, or creed. And I was on the path to Knighthood, they were beneath me._ All I had to do is remind them that, right?_

As I drew closer, they backed away again, but only the Zippleback stayed. "Do you have something to say to me?" I snapped at him. Or was it her or it? I could never understand that part.

"The King took notice of you," a Zippleback head said with a bow.

Its twin then followed it up. "We wish to congratulate you."

At least they were respectful. I smirked at them back. I knew they were probably just rubbing up to me just to gain a small degree of recognition, even if it came from association, but I did not care about those things. If they made themselves useful to me, I did not have any problem with that. "Then I thank you. If-"

"Not all of us are here to suck up to you." I turned my head to the source of the voice. It was an aged Gronckle whose scales were a faded old bronze. The Gronckle stepped forward, causing the Zippleback to step back and the kin cleared around us. "You may have been born into the Knighthood, but you are still unworthy of the King's attentions."

"Is there something you _want_ to say to me?" I spat. To put a long story there were a lot of Kin who did not like that I was automatically made into a Squire by virtue of my being a Night Fury. My detractors state that had I been born as anything else, it would have been clear I was a poor candidate for such a position. Typically, they were commoners, other Squires, and Knights.

"Aye," the bronze scaled Kin said. "Have you made any kills in the King's service?" I blinked at that. This was… new. No one had ever criticized me about something like that before.

"Well, I of course, I have made kills. Those giant wood and stone spires that the Herd," I stated proudly. Those were the

"No," the Gronkcle cut me off. "Not that, those things do not bleed, they do not scream. You haven't killed anything of honor have you?"

"I'm sure that I slew some of the Herd when I destroy their spires."

"I doubt it, Prey is hardier than you give them credit for," the Gronckle scoffed. "But even if you did, those were orders given to you by One Eye and the intention was to destroy the spires. Kills made by those actions do not count."

"What are you getting at?" I approached the old one, but he did not so much bat an eye or even flinch.

"Have you killed Herd or Kin of your decision?" he said calmly.

"Um, no I have not. I fail to see how that is important."

"You are a warrior now and as a warrior you must also be expected to do battle against the Herd and against rogue and honorless Kin. A kill, made of your own volition is proof of your lethality and prowess as a warrior. You have proven you have no bloodthirst."

"I have plenty of bloodthirst." I said that on pure reflex. Only after I had said it have I realized how childish I sounded saying that. And the Gronckle knew it based on the look his eyes. I could tell that the attention of the large group of Kin by me were focused on the old one. "And I have nothing to kill for honor."

"But you do, you may kill me and redeem your honor," he said, unafraid.

I considered that for a moment. I could kill him, quite easily now that I thought about it, and shut up one of my detractors, permanently. On the other hand, there was just no point to it. He was just an old, old Gronkcle. Not a threat to me. Plus, I could respect him, he was unafraid of dying by my paws. "I do not need to kill you," I said. "I will simply instead kill one of the Herd when I have the chance the next raid. I can wait that long."

The Gronkcle nodded, my answer apparently contenting him. "Then I will look forward to your return." He then walked away for a few steps before something large and black land on him.

"Dead Wings has returned!" "Run for your lives!" I heard screaming coming from every direction. My Kin and I ran away from the Gronckle in droves. I leapt and hit behind a rock, having no intention to look at the grisly scene that was playing out just out of my field of vision. The Gronckle was screaming in raw agony and I did nothing but hid. _I could save him, _I told myself. But I was simply too scared to get out of my hiding place_. _The worst part was, I knew he was going to _live._

"This is a warning, next time, I will not be as _merciful," _I heard the dark thing speak.

"I do not fear you," I heard the Gronckle croak as he stopped screaming. I could see the glowing eyes of my Kin looking as the scene had concluded. I peered alongside them. The Gronckle's wings were torn into ribbons and I could see blood pouring out from the wounds. He likely wasn't going to fly again without having sort of healing done to him. I saw the Gronckle get up and slip away, the creature that attacked it having done what it intended.

"Which is such a shame, it would have made that all the more _enjoyable."_ Then I saw the creature turn its attention to me giving me both a better picture of the scene. "Hello, child," said the female Night Fury.

"H-hey mom," I said sheepishly. My mother is a Night Fury, obviously, but she is somewhat bigger than me, by somewhere around the length of my own head. Her only name was Dead Wings. While she was a Flight Commander, she was the only one of them to not have more than one name. She did not _need_ to have more than one name, when her only one had so many different meanings. And right now, I had just seen one of them.

"You should have defended your honor when that commoner questioned you, child," my mother stated. "Now others see you as weak. And now that others see you as weak, they see _me _as weak." _And that was why she wanted to make an example._ By disabling and not killing the wizened Gronckle she had made him suffer. His injury would be no excuse to his task of getting food for the King and given he lacked flight, he would have been very vulnerable and easily slain. It was not about killing, it was about _suffering._

"Sorry mother," I said. "It… won't happen again."

"Good," she smiled and went on her own way. All things considered I got off lucky, if she wasn't punishing me.

I looked around and saw that the remaining Kin who were still staring at me. I did not like the fact they all saw what had happened, my relationship with my mother was none of their business. "What are you all staring at?" I roared. "Get away!" They ran.

I was alone. And I preferred it would stay that way.

* * *

**Author's Notes: **

**Now that I built enough confidence up to write a story and got a solid idea, I started this. Anyone who has read my other story "This is not Berk" will probably be familiar with some of the content that will end up in this fic. I can assure you all that it isn't the exact same thing as what ended up there, but you will see some overlap.**

**In case any of you failed to understand what Trader Johann has in that secret chest of his. The items are a rubber chicken, a very primitive steam engine, and gunpowder with a recipe. This is a deliberate case of "It Will Never Catch On" meant to be a gag.**

**Yes, in this fic's verse, baby Magnus is actually older than Hiccup and gang. I thought it would make for a funny "off screen" gag if Hiccup actually fixed her issue.**

**The reason why Hiccup and Stoic's chat at home went out differently than it did in the movies is **_**because**_** Hiccup failed to shoot down Toothless and thus never learned that he could not kill willingly kill a dragon. **

**Toothless's snippet was the hardest to write for because his is the only one who deals with himself and dragon kind Plus… I needed to explain how dragon culture works in this fic.**

**Yes, I used feudal terms to describe dragon society. And Herd is what they use to describe the Viking Tribes, and Hunts to describe their attacks. That should give you an idea of what they think about humans. **

**One Eye may share his name with a dragon in the books, but is otherwise, not related or based at all on him.**

**Basic hierarchy breakdown: Commoners Squires Knights Flight CommandersKing/Lord**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Dream Works and Cressida Cowell own the How to Train Your Dragon franchise. **

**I'm going to try to get chapters up regularly and have consistent word counts so to prevent myself from losing enthusiasm in the story.**

**I will note that there are book references and things of that nature. Just with weird twists applied to them.**

**This chapter was harder for me to write than the last, as my mind kept wandering into future events in the story that will not be relevant for a long while. As its quality may or may not be different from the last one's.**

**Please remember to review and provide constructive criticism. Also, if anyone checks my Author page, I added some notes to it pertaining to this story.**

* * *

I was blessed by the gods. That was the only way I could put it. Some people get a lucky and take down a dragon and be paraded around as a hero for a few days. No, not me, I have just been given the chance to completely change my whole life. _The Norns just probably owe me interest._

First, the potion worked and I was quite enjoying my newfound strength. It did not make me as strong as my dad, or Snotlout, or Fishlegs, but I felt I could reasonably stand up to the twins in an arm wrestling challenge, not that I would want to challenge them at any rate. Second is the fact that by some action of cosmic proportions, I had a second shot at taking down a Night Fury. And there were two of them now, so I had better odds than I did yesterday morning. Third, the weather was better than normal, perfect in fact. With the skies were clear and the winds at our backs, our sails pulled us full speed away. Fourth and most importantly, I had a chance to impress not only the Hairy Hooligans, not only every Viking tribe in the Archipelago, but Astrid as well. And Snotlout, too, but I was not very sure how much I wanted to do that.

When I had seen them on the docks at the boat father set up for me, I had originally thought that maybe they were off to see me off or give me some last minute insults. I was not expecting all of them to go board the ship along side of me.

Apparently, I was the last person informed about it, but because Snotlout and I were required to attend the Thing due to tribal law, it caused some problems in the Dragon Training class roster to simply remove just the two of us. That plus because Dragon Training was a _team _effort, Gobber and dad just decided the simplest solution would have been to send my whole class along with me. So now, I was stuck in a longboat with Fishlegs, Astrid, Snotlout, the twins, and along with the sailors my dad instructed to watch us. _Look on the bright side, maybe once everything is all said and done, you can actually start calling them your friends. _

I could tell by their faces only my cousin and I were the only one who was even remotely thrilled about this voyage and that was likely due to the fact we both had things we wanted to accomplish. For me, it was getting that Night Fury and for Snotlout, it was to show off in front of every tribe that showed up and have some 'fun time' with Dagur. Snotlout was looking at his own reflection in a mirror he acquired from Trader Johann. Tuffnut and Ruffnut were extremely bored of looking out at the sea. And Fishlegs was mostly content to reading from a copy of the Book of Dragons he owned. And Astrid rotated between juggling and maintaining her axe.

I also had weapons to take care of. Because I did trust anyone other than Fishlegs with the black book in my possession, I decided it would be a good idea to prepare myself for the "Dragon Training" my father had planned for me. While I did bring the axe my father gave last night, that was at best my fallback weapon. As strong as I was now, I still could not throw an axe far enough for me to hit my goal. That was why I brought with me a crossbow of my own making. Made of a lightweight mix of wood and steel, I actually could have carried it if I was still…weak. I made it before I designed the bola launcher, but abandoned the plan when I realized that a single bolt was not going to take down the Night Fury for me. Of course, that was where my secret weapon comes in…

I didn't have much time to think about my plans as I was interrupted. "Gah! This is so boring!" said Ruffnut, breaking the silence that had started since we all left. I counted it amongst my blessings that they did not immediately swarm me with insults and quietly went on the boat with me.

"Why can't we have stayed behind?" Tuffnut added.

"Where we weren't going to die of boredom."

Before I could react and defend myself, Snotlout butted in."Well, who cares about that? We're going to be full Viking warriors, in a raid, with our allied tribes standing nearby, ready to be impressed. Gonna kill me a Monstrous Nightmare before the Graduation." I used to hate Snotlout, back when we were kids. He had been something of a bully that constantly tormented me when we were younger, but he had since cooled down especially in the past year. Never understood why, but I believe it had to do with shifting his focus on trying to attract Astrid. Lately, he had only really taken to name calling and mocking me when I actually did deserve it or when Thawfest was involved.

"You do know we don't know if the dragons will attack or not…?" Fishlegs said, "I mean, we know they usually go after the Great Tribes in a particular order, but maybe they would do the smart thing and take an undefended village or something instead?" That was something I hadn't considered. Would dragons have the sense to notice that Fort Sinister was more heavily defended than usual and take an easier target? Not to mention we had no idea of when the raid will start. For all we knew, it could have easily happened today and we were already late.

Snotlout, apparently ignoring the statement Fishlegs made, flexed his left bicep and gave it a hard, audible tap, as if for emphasis. "With these babies I'm going to kill off every dragon and sweep off all of the babes. Wanna see?" He looked at Astrid with a wolfish grin, to which she replied with a blow to the nose. "Hey, not the face! Not the face!" said Snotlout as he clutched his wounded nose.

Astrid backs away from the wounded Viking and turned back to me, making me feel uncomfortable. "I hate to say it, but the twins are right," -Ruffnut interjects with mumbled "ouch" at this point, "We shouldn't be going to a dragon raid… especially not you." It is not a secret that both Snotlout and I, plus a bunch of other boys our age, had a crush on Astrid. Mostly, she just tends to ignore it and look at us like we were fools. Which to be fair, some of us, myself included, were. I realized a long time ago that I had no chance to get her to notice me outside of mess-ups, but that was then, this was now.

"And I whole heartedly agree." said Snotlout, predictably retracting all of his previous statements the moment Astrid got involved. "We should all go home."

"Thank you all for being so optimistic," I defended myself. "It was not my idea to take us all."

"And your dad didn't bring any dragons. How does he expect us to do dragon training without them?" Astrid continued. I cringed, knowing the answer. The shield-maiden-in-training noticed the look on my face and stated: "You know something…"

"Sorta… kinda…Dad actually told me this last night over dinner."

"And?"

In that moment, I turned to Fishlegs, which in turn caused everyone to turn to him. The large boy gave a small squeak of surprise. "Uh…yeah?" He said sheepishly. Fishlegs had been my best friend for a long time. Both of us always had unusual tastes and that had more or less kept us apart from the other Viking children. We were close friends growing up, but that relationship had somewhat deteriorated ever since he had a growth spurt and became the largest teenager in our age group. Even then, we still shared information and hung out every now and again, always in secret. It was also because of that, he was the only one who knew what my father was planning; not because he actually knew my father's plans, but because he knew the source material my dad was using. In fact, I was pretty sure he knew it better than I did.

"You remember when Gobber told us about how Vikings did 'dragon training' before they started capturing dragons?" Fun Fact, when Vikings first settled in the Barbaric Archipelago, they preferred to kill their dragons instead of capturing them. Capturing them for study and training came later after Bork the Bold published "the Book of Dragons". Dad, trying to squeeze both a training routine into a diplomatic meeting was going to bring back an old Viking fallback since dragons were not likely going available for us to train on. Fortunately for us, we only needed to stick to it as long as we were still at Oswald's island.

I saw my friend go pale. "Your dad is kidding right?" I shook my head. "We're so doomed." He then promptly started listing the most notable events of the training course and describing them using terms like "Challenge Rating", "Insanity Factor", and "Traumatic Disorder Inducing". Notable exercises included building and sailing a raft while your teacher tried to set it on fire and running through town while everyone pelted you with objects, typically rocks and dirty linens from sailors. _Painful head injuries or losing your sense of smell… Which of these is 'better'?_ Each exercise was meant to replicate, at least in part situations a Viking would encounter a dragon. In the two examples given, they were meant to represent sailing while under a dragon attack and moving through a village during a raid.

While the training was effective enough to make capable dragon killing warriors as lethal as the more modern method, it had numerous drawbacks. It was a hastily designed training method that often took so much time just to set up for each exercise. Collateral damage was also an issue, as well sometimes students getting killed on a training exercise, but that was an "occupational hazard" as my dad put it. It was a close as my father can get to dragon training without actually having any dragons.

Everyone sat in stunned silence, contemplating what the large teen had said. Astrid did not appear to react, but Snotlout mumbled something about "being like Thawfest". I had already made up my mind about it, and I decided, it did not matter what kind of training I had to go through. I wanted to be the best Viking in my generation. And dad was going to see it. That's all that mattered.

This time, Tuffnut was the one to speak first. "Awesome, when do we start?"

* * *

Every moon, when it has disappeared from the night sky, swallowed completely by its darkened half, our King makes a roar so loud that it reaches us seemingly no matter how far away we are. Our King's Voice could be felt no matter how far away we were from him. Even if you could not hear the roar, you could feel it in your bones and in your heart. Some of the elder Kin have said that it stretched beyond the merely physical and reached into the spiritual where it resonated within all of us.

His Call was not a command, but an invitation. A formal request for Kin to enter into the Nest where he was held. There was no real penalty for refusing it, but there was plenty to be gained. By pledging fealty and offering gifts and services, our Lord maintained the peace and settled disputes between the different Kin and even offered gifts and power in turn. It was also a time to discuss the successes and failures of the Flights and Flight Commanders and to honor pacts.

Regardless of what is brought to our Lord, you _must _bring _something;_ we were all guests in his home and we were expected to act properly. The punishment for being a poor guest was immediate death at the paws of the whole Nest, if not the King's massive jaws. The two most common types of offers were food and skill. Food was the offering typical of commoners as they rarely had anything to distinguish themselves. The only ones who were not required to bring gifts were Kin who were already the King's personal servants, such as being in the Knighthood or other special roles. They instead brought their skills as their offerings. Though it was common for Kin to bring both their skills and an item as a way of showing extra devotion.

As a Squire, I also enjoyed a special privilege exclusive to those in the Knighthood. Around my Lord, there are three stone platforms that together formed the shape of a triangle, each dedicated to one of the Flight Commanders, and elevated so low that the red fog that surrounded the lowest reaches of the Nest covered up to my knees, obscuring them. While normally, the area in the middle of the platforms was vacant, during my King's audience, he would poke his head out in that space. This time, it would be my first meal being this close to him. Best part of this all was the commoners were not allowed to attend and my mother was seated elsewhere. After the events of the previous night, I did not want to deal either of them again anytime soon.

Seeing my King's massive jaws and six-eyed face poking up out of the fog simply took my breath away. I was simply in awe by how utterly massive he was now that I saw just how big his head was up close. I struggled to believe that my King was real for a moment. At that point, One Eye smacked me on the head with a laugh. "The first time is always like that," he said. "You'll get used to it." Apparently, this was something of a tradition as all of my fellow Squires and Knights laughed alongside him.

They all stopped their laughing when our Lord spoke; his voice shook the whole Nest. **"I thank you all here for gathering this night, my faithful servants. From the lowest commoners, to eager Squires, to the Honorable Knights, to the most loyal of Flight Commanders, I thank you for sharing in this meal with me."** As loud as my King was, especially this close to his gapping maw, it was still not as unsettling as yesterday when he had taken notice of me in lieu of every other Squire and Knight. I did however still have the feeling that he was looking at me intently.

I saw every one of the other Kin bow curly down at our Lord. Not wanting to feel left out or having a death wish, I went along with them. "We humbly serve," said everyone.

**"Then, I invite you to partake of this meal."** At that point, our King spat out a large glob of partially eaten food from his maw and placed it in the center of the stone platform I was on. My Flight gathered around it slowly in a circle. All in all, there were twenty-four Knights and Squires combined in my Flight, excluding One Eye, the Flight Commander. Eight Gronckles, seven Nadders, five Zipplebacks, three Nightmares and myself. There was twenty-five of us, but an overzealous Nightmare had fallen during the attack yesterday morning. My King then proceeded to lay down more fish piles in each of the two other platforms.

I licked my lips in anticipation, the sharing of food in such a way had a deep symbolic meaning to the Kin. It represented almost always a form of affection or of dependence from the one offering the meal. Often, our first meals were served this way by our parents after we freshly hatch from our eggs. In this case, it meant we were subservient to the King. I was hungry and I could barely wait any longer to sink my retractable teeth into a swordfish I was eyeing and based on the looks I got from the other Squires near me, I wasn't the only one who felt the same way. Tradition dictated that the Flight Commanders take the first bite.

I did not have to wait long as my Flight Commander, One Eye, take a large tuna before yelling, "Dig in, kids." My Flight exploded into a chorus of ecstatic, screams and roars as all dove into the pile of food. I had to race with a Nadder for the item I wanted, but I was faster and the Nadder settled for a few slain hens. Though the food mound was plentiful enough for us all, it was not large enough for all of us to eat in a comfortable manner. It was a frantic struggle which had no order to it at all. Claws, tails, and teeth made small wounds in both their owners and their allies as my Kin thrashed in a frenzy.

I did not know long any of us had spent eating, but at the end when the last morsels were miniscule sardines and leftover blood, I could not help but feel content with myself. I was strong and quick which let me gorge myself. Only those who were fit enough were fed and I had just proved myself to be fit enough to be full. That was the law. I laid on my stomach to try and wait for my insides to digest its contents. I could hear a faint, well, not really faint, chuckle come from the center of the room. _Clearly my Lord finds this all amusing._

When I looked I could tell, most of the other Squires and Knights had already drifted into a deep sleep. For a moment, I thought about joining them, but then, I could see that my teacher, One Eye had made his way towards our Lord. Being curious about what was happening, I decided to stay up longer and see what was happening. "My Lord, I know it is not my place to question you," said my teacher. "But are you sure of… my next task? We are forming a Hunt so soon and my Flight has not yet fully healed."

**"Yes, the Herd is massing at the next Hunting Ground." **The King said. **"You must strike them before their defenses become too strong."**

"My Lord, I believe we should focus our offenses elsewhere," I heard someone say. I recognized faintly it was my mother. I could see that she had blood drip out of her lips. I hoped it was from the cattle and fish. "The Herd will have left their other dens less protected, many of which are still in disrepair. It might be more prudent for us, instead to Hunt them indirectly."

"And risk irrecoverably destroying or damaging a healthy Herd settlement?" A smaller, squeakier voice said. "The Herd is resilient, but not resilient enough to withstand overharvesting." I turned and looked to find in the distance a small Terrible Terror, his head barely sticking out of the fog. Terrors had an… interesting place in the Nest. They were not required to gather food for the King and instead did various menial tasks, such as mending wounds, cleaning, or hunting pests. And because of their small size, it was impossible, or so I thought, that any one of them could enter the Knighthood to get this close to the King. So I was surprised to find a Terror, _unafraid of my mother_, involving himself in an conversation with the King and two Flight Commanders, all of which were bigger than him.

"Then what do you propose?" challenged my mother. "We cannot stand by and do nothing!"

"I disagree, we can do exactly that," the Terror eyed the King. "If you be willing my Lord, we could wait out for the Herd forces to leave the Hunting Ground before we strike." I saw my King and One Eye consider his words intently. That was when I realized who this Terror was. I had always thought it was a joke played out by the older Knights to trick us Squires, but here it was. I was seeing and hearing it with my own senses. He was a Flight Commander, an equal to both my mother and One Eye. What did this little Kin do to earn such a distinction? I knew next to nothing about this one, neither his name or his deeds.

**"Both of your ideas have merit in them," **I heard my King say. **"But, neither of them suit my designs. It is imperative that this Hunt is carried out while the Herd gathered, but not before they become too strong. I want the Hunt to begin in the next sunrise." **What did my King have planned? Was there something important about the timing of this or where we needed to go? I felt that those questions were things I apparently shared with the Flight Commanders, but they did not ask those questions aloud.

Finally, after a moment of contemplation, I could see that One Eye had built up the will to make a question of the King. "My Lord, I will carry out your orders, then. Before," my teacher said. "Please, I do think that a Hunt for food is worth risking the lives of my Flight."

**"Then it shall be a Hunt for Glory. Slay as much of the Herd as you can. Burn and destroy. The Herd must be culled for attempting to defend itself so," **our King said. I sat up. Hunting for food was the normal goal of the hunt. Warriors such as myself and others in the Knighthood would do combat against the Herd and their defenses, while commoners would attempt to capture food. Some commoners fought, but only in desperation. A Hunt for Glory was rarer. It was meant to be a killing; food was a secondary priority and even commoners were ordered to slay Herd. It was not about who could gather the most food, it was about who could take the most kills. The orders basically boiled down to "cause as much destruction and death as possible." I was anxious now, I now had a perfect opportunity to prove myself to my Flight. My King then performed what I thought was a smirk across his giant maw. **"It appears that a Squire does not like the comfort of sleep on the Eve of a Hunt," **he addressed me. The Flight Commanders turned and looked at me. I was prepared for it this time and I did not flinch.

"So this is your protégée, One Eye?" said the Terror as he examined me from afar. "And your son, Dead Wings? Greetings child, I had not had the chance to meet you yet. I wish you good Hunting on dawn."

"Thank you, Flight Commander," I bowed politely. Terror or not, he still outranked me and it was best to show manners when everyone else around you could crush you into a pulp. "I will do my best. Give me targets, and I will take them down."

It was at this point that my King showed me an image. They were those things the Herd made from fallen trees to travel across the oceans. I wondered for a moment how the Herd made them float over the water and One Eye once compared it to how birds knew how to built a nest. It was just something they knew to do. **"Night Fury, these are your targets for your next assignment, destroy these before all others. Herd and other Herd-made construction are to be destroyed after you are done with these." **I nodded.

My mother interjected. "My King, allow me to join in this Hunt, my son is too inexperienced, too weak to handle such a large force by himself. And One Eye's Flight is still not fully healed. My Flight's wounds have healed enough for us to join the fight." For a moment, I felt insulted, but I had to accept that she was right. I did not know where the Hunt was, let alone how best to handle it.

Our King responded with nothing but a chuckle. **"You may go, but I expect you to be subservient to Flight Commander One Eye for the duration of this task." **

I saw mother's eyes glint with a hint of anger and rage at my leader, no one else seemed to notice or cared to notice. "Of course, I understand, my Lord."

"Then while you all are away, I shall be off to other priorities that need my attention," said the Terror. I can hear my King purr with approval. It sounded strange since he was so large. The others nodded. "Then, I bid you good bye." And with that, the little Kin disappeared underneath the fog as he was so small.

"Get some rest, Squire." One Eye said to me as lied down. "We have a big day ahead of us." He was sleeping before I could turn to respond to him.

I tried my hardest to sleep, but that action was harder than I thought it should have been. Even though earlier, I was weary having eaten a full meal, something else was inside of me. I was filled with anxiety and also excitement. Tomorrow night was going to be a big Hunt. I had plenty to both gain and lose. While I could also make my first kill in the King's honor, it was very likely I could die as well. It was rare for two Flights to join in the same Hunt. From the tales I heard from storytellers when growing up, they were only done in times when the Kin were desperate or expecting great danger.

My thoughts were interrupted by my mother approaching me. I went still, pretending I was asleep. "Child, you better not shame me again," she said. "If you fail to make a kill, do not return to the Nest until you do." And then she went away.

I was not going to sleep tonight.

* * *

Fort Sinister was built by the Romans long, long ago. My grandfather had told me that it had originally been a colony or some sort of staging point for their ships. They believed that the island would allow them easy access to the Barbaric Archipelago and its dragons. They wanted to go _domesticate_ the beasts to further strengthen their empire. But apparently, Roman troops were ill suited to the chaotic air and ground warfare that dragons reveled in. For their arrogance, they Fort had been ransacked and overrun. That ended direct Roman involvement in these seas to this day.

The beasties then took the stone fort as their own nest and even when ruined it served as a near impenetrable bastion of defense. I say "nearly" because my father was among those who drove out the dragons for the Fortress. Back before Oswald and I were even in our fathers' thoughts, they took Fort Sinister as the finale of a lengthy Quest. And when Oswald's father became the Great High Chieftain of the Berserker Tribe, he moved in and taken the fortress to be the new home and Great Hall for his Tribe. And Oswald inherited it from him.

Having more people than Berk, the Berserker settlement had both more houses and took up more space than I what I seen on my own home. Unfortunately, that made them too big to fit within the stone walls of the original Roman fortress and only a fourth of the settlement was protected behind the old walls. Though in a dragon raid, high walls were often a drawback as the beasts could _fly over them_. It did however mean that human opponents were had to be really crazy to launch any sort of assault.

It had turned dark by the time we landed on the island, much sooner than I had originally thought. Normally, we would have arrived by the time dawn came, but it seems that Ægir, god of the sea, and Kári, god of wind, were very favorable to us this time. With a few orders, I ordered the men to take us in to dock. The Berserker harbormasters were expecting us. They greeted us with cheers and anticipation for the coming battle.

Already moored to the port, I could make out the designs and names of a few Bog Burglar and Meathead vessels. That mean the two tribes who were on the receiving end of the new raids were out for revenge. I welcomed the sight, though I was going to have to remember to check if I still had my underclothes. They did not call them Bog Burglars for nothing. I disembarked my ship first, and greeted the locals with a yell. I trusted my brother and second in command, Spitelout to take care of the unloading. This, not being my first time on Oswald's land, I knew what to expect from this visit.

I went to see my son and his friends once I had the time. I could see a small smile in his face as he put away his weapons. I knew what he was thinking. He was only really looking forward to down one of the Night Furies in the coming raid. That was the only reason he was not complaining about this voyage; he had a goal and he did not care about the little nuisances that got in the way of it. Not even Dagur, and that boy was not all right in the head. I had a little hope that maybe, just maybe that Odin would take pity on my son. Let him take down the Night Fury, let me be proud to call him my son. I had to force myself to stop lingering on these thoughts. I was here for a mission and I had to appear strong and proud.

The Berserker warriors escorted us, myself, my son, his friends, and a few of my most trusted warriors to Fort Sinister to find our lodgings. Having made multiple visits in the past, my son and I both knew most of our way around the village and fortress itself. We arrived in side the Fort faster than I expected. It was then the guards split us up, leaving me alone while everyone else would be taken to bed. Which was fine by me, I needed to meet the other Oswald, privately. We had things to discuss.

I found Oswald, in his dining room, alone. He was sipping a bottle of was likely mead when I came in. "Damn you Stoic, why couldn't you come during sunrise?" Oswald coughed. "You're too early! Mogadon and Bertha at least had the decency to come at a time when everyone was awake." Modagon being the cheiftain for the Meatheads with his son Thuggory and Bertha being the Bog Burglar chief with her daughter Camicazi. They likely already went to bed.

I only responded with a smile of amusement. "Blame the sea and sky, they made me hurry. Wouldn't miss another opportunity to save your ass." This made my friend's features soften a little. Us chiefs, me, Oswald, Bertha, and Mogadon, were all friends of a sort. Back when we were old enough to start traveling and fighting but young enough not to become chiefs, we often crossed paths… and blades in every sort of manner. We all respected each other, which in Viking terms meant that we often threw axes and spears at each other's heads.

Oswald shook his head. "And I've been told you had brought more than your son this time."

To which I replied. "Dragon Training class… You did the same thing for me."

The other chieftain gave a sigh. "That may cause problems, though it may be less depending on how much they are all willing to share their rooms." Oswald said. "We can set up proper rooms for everyone in the morning. It is too late to make rearrangements. For now, we have more important matters to discuss." Then we discussed the terms of my stay. It was just the standard thing a guest was entitled to on his stay. Warm food, good sheltering, that sort of thing. There were a couple of provisions I did have to ask about. As a predicted, Oswald could not offer his captured dragons for me to use in training. He did however allow us to perform the 'old school' training method I would be using for our stay. And Hiccup was not allowed anywhere near any of the armories and smithies on the island. Which was understandable given what happened last time. We do not talk about it. "Now are there any questions, Stoic?"

"Yes, why are you doing this?" I said. Oswald looked at me with sad disapproval in his face. "We both know your tribe this action is going to be seen as weakness." Oswald turned away from me a scowl forming. Oswald, though a great warrior and leader, did not live up to _all _of the ideals of the Berserker Tribe. He was simply put, far too peaceful most of the time for the likings of some of its members. His title had originally been meant as an insult. Within the throes of Rage or what he called a "highly spirited debate", I had seen the man sink ships unarmed. But outside of those moments of intense anger and destruction, he was simply not interested in killing everything in anger.

"I have to do what is bests for my people, Stoic," the man said. "Even if it means having to go against them, sometimes."

"Dagur will kill you over this," I said. While it was true the majority of his Tribe loved and respected him, there were those who sought to destroy him. Especially his own son. Hiring aid from the other Tribes would be all the fire that child to dispose of his weakened father."

"Aye, he will…" agreed Oswald. "I've lost my thirst for blood."

Oswald did not deserve to die this way. He was a great friend and a true leader. Yet for all of his good qualities, there was one that stood out so much that it was his flaw. He loved his son enough to see past the child's failings, no matter how great they were. He loved Dagur more than I could say I loved Hiccup.

* * *

We were escorted by the Berserker warriors to what was probably our rooms. The Hooligan warriors that Stoic sent with us had separated from our group and were sent to a different part of the fortress, while us dragon trainees had been taken to some special guest bedrooms. I had never been this far from Berk before, so lodging in an old Roman fort was a new experience. I considered for a moment of thinking that coming here might actually be enriching.

For us, warriors in training, there were three rooms. Apparently, these rooms were reserved for the Heirs of the tribes that Chief Oswald called, but they, understandably were not expecting Stoic to bring five extra guests. Thankfully for us, the Bog Burglar and Meathead Heirs were willing to share rooms. Apparently Hiccup had promised them favors to make up for them and said that they would be rooming with trustworthy fellows. Tuffnut and Snotlout were going to lodge with a taller, muscled boy by the name of Thuggory; Hiccup and Fishlegs got their own room; while us girls, Ruffnut and I were sharing a room with Camicazi.

The guest bedrooms were scantily furnished having at most, two large beds and a dresser. Not enough for three adults, but just fine for a couple of kids like us. As much as I did not want to be on this stupid voyage. At least, I could spend some time with Ruffnut.

"Finally, a room I do not have to share with my annoying brother!" said Ruffnut.

"But you're still sharing it with us…" I corrected.

"But you're not my brother!" she said.

A third voice interrupted, our room-mate. "Well finally, there's some other girls here. I was getting tired of having to look at all these brutish men," she said. It took me a moment to realize that she looked, very, very much like me. With the exception of her hair being a wild mess and her clothing, she looked much like I did. I had to look at my own reflection in my axe to compare ourselves properly. With the right makeup and the right clothing, I could swear we could pass for twins better than even Ruffnut and Tuffnut did. "Wow, you look like me. Fancy that?" she apparently noticed the same thing and I could tell it excited her. "Well, my name's Camicazi, what's your's?"

"Astrid Hofferson," I said as I introduced us both. "And this is Ruffnut Thorston."

"Hey…" my friend said wearily with a raise of her hand.

And then I realized something important. She was the Bog Burglar Heir, a member of a Viking Tribe known for their obsession with stealing things. Which meant that I had to be careful about where I put my stuff. I would really hate it if someone took my axe from me. "Will you be stealing from us?" I would have said if I was planning on not being polite to the actual owner of the room.

Camicazi seemed to read my expression and responded without prompting "No. I won't, I've got better things to steal."

I accepted her answ…"Hey wait! What's that supposed to mean?" Then I realized it was a backhanded compliment.

"I mean to say none of your things look at that impressive enough to steal. Plus, it'd be too easy. Especially that axe," the girl said with a smirk.

No one insulted me and got away with it. Especially not my axe. I raised said axe and leveraged it at her. "Is that supposed to mean anything?"

"Yes, it does." The girl in turn drew a sword that was apparently on her waist. She seemed thrilled at the sight. "Even an old beggar wouldn't take your stuff."

"Ooh! Now I'm really liking this trip." Ruffnut said. "Front row seats."

The two of us, me and Camicazi, fought. "You do not look so bad for a Hooligian. My mother said that the only good Hooligan was a dead one." She lunged at me with a vertical swipe of her sword.

I parried the strike with my axe. "Ha, that's funny, my father said that the only good Bog Burglar was a dead one, too."

The fight had lasted for about… five minutes without any of us making any real progress. Our conversation devolved into senseless babbling and I could swear Ruffnut had gotten bored once it became clear it was a stand still. Eventually, we both stopped once we realized that we were not doing anything to hurt each other. "You're not bad for a Hooligan," Camicazi said as she sheathed her sword. "But your stuff still ain't worth stealing."

"Well, fine, I don't want you taking my stuff, anyways," I huffed. I realized at the last second my mistake made me sound like a fool so I added: "Side's you couldn't take my stuff anyways."

"Oh is that a challenge?" Camicazi piped.

"Yeah, I'm challenging you," I said. Camicazi smiled a bit.

"Ooh, Round Two," Ruffnut said. And thus began a competition of trying to outdo each other. _Was this how the other Tribes tended to act around each other? _I wondered.

* * *

Back when I was little, I used to have nightmares about staying in these rooms. Not the dragons, actual nightmares. I remember my dad telling me that they used to be a maximum security dungeons back when the Romans still held them. And unfortunately being the imaginative boy that I was, I ended up dreaming that I was being held hostage by a fat Consul and a Prefect. I grew out of them, but I found my myself looking back at those really strange dreams whenever I visit Oswald.

I had not had time to read the book Trader Johann gave me since last night after making a second project when I learned my strength potion worked. Suffice it to say, I did not want anyone other than Fishlegs, who I trusted to be responsible with the knowledge I was about to share with him. It had to bribe Camicazi and Thuggory, two somewhere-slightly-above-acquaintances of mine, with the promise of making them some special weapons in the future. _It would be worth it,_ I told myself.

"Did you hear that?" Fishlegs said as he listened to one of the walls. "I hear metal clanging."

"Yeah, I figured that would happen," I said. "I think we should leave them alone." I saw Fishlegs agree. I knew enough about Camicazi because of Chieftain meetings involving our parents. Back when I first met her, I thought she was Astrid. I had hoped the two would never meet, because I had realized both of them had a bit of a competitive streak. I did not want to know was going on in their room right now.

I changed subjects and showed Fishlegs the book. He did not believe me when I said that the book had all sorts of arcane things when I first told him. Much like how no one will believe in trolls without proof. So I tried performing tricks with my axe like twirling it and juggling it between my hands. It did not last long. I made a mistake and the axe had been thrown into thrown into the dresser. I might have "heightened coordination and boosted physical strength", but apparently I still had the lousy axe throwing skills. May just be the fact I am still new at this; I could never hold an axe properly until last night. Still, given how _deep_ the axe dug into the wood, it was all the convincing Fishlegs needed.

"No way, you got like Plus Two Strength now." Fishlegs said. I never understood why or even where he draws those numbers from. "The book really give you a potion that did that?" I nodded. "You sure it's not just some really super herbal tea?"

"Yes, I'm pretty sure most tea recipe do not look like molten iron and eat the pot that boiled them," I said. Fishlegs was interested, based on that look he had in his face. I knew he was going to want to take notes on the subject.

"Oh, imagine what if I took that strength potion too," said Fishlegs. That was another good question. Two very interesting Fishlegs questions in one day, maybe I should use him as a sounding board more often. Still, if one potion could let _me,_ scrawny, weak Hiccup the Useless, easily lift an axe that would have barely been carried with two hands, what would it do to someone who was already plenty strong, like Fishlegs?

So I opened the book and we started reading it together. Fishlegs, like me could only read Norse, but that did not matter so much. Between the two of us, we've found some interesting facts both in the articles and learned more clues about the mystery about this book's origins.

First off, we both noticed that even within the same languages, it became clear that the handwriting tended to vary quite a bit. This made it clear that there were _several_ different authors, making my idea that the book that I was given was compiled from the works of different people seem more and more plausible.

Second, the book was full of various dragon related sorceries. While more mundane knowledge seemed to make up the bulk of the parts we could understand, there was still plenty of strange stuff in the book. It was either dragon related materials were involved, such as the potion, or that the sorcery affected dragons. One notable concoction was called "Icy Breath Mints" which inexplicably made a dragon breath ice instead of fire for a few hours. The book also explicitly stated, "still just as lethal as normal fire breath". _Maybe if we could get some dragons who would like to help, we can use this to help put out fires._

Fishlegs took notes out of everything I shared with him. I also shared with him the recipie for the strength potion and for my plan on how I was going to down a Night Fury. I elaborated on both of these subjects. The strength potion recipe included directions of preparing the cooking pot and that the twins kept the hardest to find ingredient in a pickling jar.

Fishlegs looked at me like I had gone irrecoverably insane. Which when "You mean to tell me that you gave the twin your bola launcher?"

"It can't be worse that when I had it," I said. "And it's broken, the twins cannot possibly reassemble it all on their own."

"I guess you're right." Fishlegs admitted. "So how are you going to down a Night Fury, I know you brought a crossbow and all, but that doesn't seem like it is enough." A good crossbow was a solid weapon against even the most heavily armored Vikings, but a poor weapon against dragons. Even the biggest Vikings were small compared to most dragons, on top of being naturally tougher than the average, untrained Norseman villager. These factors, increased mass and general resilience, made it harder for them to bleed out and meant that more damage had to be inflicted to down them. Which was why my bola launcher was not designed for sheer lethality, but rather to disable my target. That was the same philosophy I planned on using. My weapon and means of doing it were different, but overall, the idea was the same.

"This is how," I smiled and pulled out a small case from my pack. "All I need to do is make one successful hit." I opened it, revealing a small set of five crossbow bolts, each with a silver tip and a single rune carved into their wooden shafts. I spent much of the night before I left Berk making these, hiding them behind the excuse I needed to make ammunition for my weapons. I found the recipe near the end of the book. The bolts were specially designed and crafted to knock a dragon out of the sky, disable its fire breath, and effectively paralyze them. And only on dragons. But once the bolts were fired, they were going to lose their special effect, essentially destroying themselves after use. All I had to do was hit my target, which I was confident in. Given that my potion worked, I had no reason to doubt this plan would fail. I did not fully understand how it all worked, but if it did, I was going to study it more and see if I could make any improvements and improvisations.

"Your dad is going to want to see this book," Fishlegs said. "It's practically the _Book of Dragons, Second Edition."_

"Yeah," I said. "Once we down the Night Fury, I'm going to show dad some of what I learned." And who knew, maybe if he approved of me enough, I could probably study the book further. Maybe even go to Rome so I can learn how to read Latin or be allowed to go Questing for a way to decode that mysterious third language.

It was at that point, I found myself regretting that I did not take the opportunity to sleep on the ride to Fort Sinister. Fishlegs and I heard screaming and shouting accomaniepied the sounds of chaos and destruction. The raid had come. Which was perfect, as it meant I would not have to wait long to go home a hero. I sighed, Fishlegs looked terrified and tried to hide under the covers of his bed. I grabbed my things: book, crossbow, and all. No telling what I needed. "Are you going out there?" Fishlegs shivered as I opened the door. "It's dangerous, you could get yourself killed."

"Fishlegs, I have to do this," I said.

"No, you don't!" he protested.

"But it's the only way I'll be accepted by… everyone." The taller boy frowned and looked at me with mournful eyes.

"Then…" he struggled to select his words. "Nothing I say is going to stop you will it?" I smiled. It was then, I had Fishlegs, though reluctantly, to watch my back for me.

* * *

I loved flying. I really do. Just not so much I had to fly for several hours uninterrupted. Especially when I had decided to comply with my naturally nocturnal sleeping habits to not take a chance to get one or two extra hours of rest. One Eye flew ahead of the whole Flight, as he was the Flight Commander and thus had to lead the charge. I wondered for a moment how that other Flight Commander, the Terror did that when he was so small. Did he just have his Second lead for him or did he just not need to worry about who lead?

The Nadder who had tried to take my swordfish earlier flew to my left. She too was a Squire like myself, but obviously was not as favored. She did not seem to mind it though as she looked rather pleased with herself. She probably had thoughts of what was ahead and was likely thinking on what kinds of things she was going to do with the prestige she would earn. Probably use it to buy a solid mate, Mating Day was only three months away.

Off in the distance, I could see my mother's Flight flying beside us. We were not close enough to be considered the same Flight, but I knew our destinations were the same. I do not know of the fine details of how the two Flight Commanders were going to be allocating their forces, but I knew of what my targets were.

For some reason, my King has deemed it necessary to destroy those Herd made collections of fallen trees over my normal duty of destroying the Herd spires. Important enough that I was required to destroy those targets before being allowed to engage the Herd properly. _Do I have enough Breath to take them all down? _I asked myself. I never really reached the maximum of how many times I could use my Breath at its full strength. Did I have maybe eight or maybe was it seven I could use?

"You're all in deep anticipation of the Hunt," said One Eye. "As expected as most of you have not had the opportunity to engage in a _proper_ Hunt yet." Did that mean to imply that our normal Hunts for food were somehow improper? Then again, all of our previous Hunts had only been to take food from the Herd. Kills made there were simply accidents most of the time.

"Glory to the Flight," I heard the Nadder beside me say. Not wanting to feel left out, I myself added a shout of cheer.

One Eye, I got the feeling enjoyed listening to us shout excitedly. "Well said my Flight. Rest asurred, some of us will be getting their names by sunrise." Now that was a prize I would not mind my King to bestow upon me. Usually, the King bestowed names as part of excellent service as the first reward a particularly loyal servant receives. Typically, Squires received their names upon their rise as a full Knight a year after they sworn into their oaths. Earning a distinction by earning the right to have a name before that point would set me apart from other Knights. I would not be merely a Night Fury, I would be someone important. _Now if only there were valid mates around the Nest… _Sometimes being a rare an elusive Night Fury tended to bite me worse than a Terror.

This trip was all going to be worth it and I would go home a hero before long.

I do not how long it was since One Eye spoke last, but we eventually found our way to the island where we would attack. The Herd nesting site looked huge, somewhat larger than the one I had raided the day before. There were plenty of fallen trees used to make makeshift caves for the Flight to burn, but most troubling of all was that the center most part of the nest had been made of stone. Plenty of stone at that. There were the typical defensive spires at key points on the high stone formed _canyons_. Was it some special form of cave? It seemed much too solid and large for me to take down on my own. Even if I had to use all of my Breath upon it.

My mother's Flight broke off farther from us at that point, while we slowly glided our way towards the Hunting Ground. "Dead Wing's Flight will circle around our target. Once she is in position we will launch our attacks simultaneously."

"We will be striking from the sea, while other flight strikes from the land," I breathed in my air and looked at for my targets. There were plenty of them. Unfortunately for me, as my orders required me to spend time destroying those targets before I was allowed to join in with the rest of the Flight. Hopefully, mother can destroy enough of the towers on her own before I was needed and that some of the Flight would burn down several of those things for me to save my own time.

"Do not care about what you bring back this Hunt, focus solely on destruction this time. Our success this Hunt is determined not by how much we carry with us on our return trip, but by how much damage and destruction we leave. Until dawn's first light, you are to continue fighting. Do not concern yourselves about casualties." Somehow, I got the distinct feeling that One Eye was regretting this. Like there was some hidden sadness this Hunt was bringing him. Maybe one day I could understand it, but that day was not today.

"Are you okay, Night Fury?" said a voice near me. It was that Nadder again. "You seemed lost in thought."

I turned to her. "I am," I said. "I must spend precious time destroying Herd things before I am allowed to join in the slaughter. I might" My senses and guts told me that dawn was at most an hour away and that I had little time to waste.

"Maybe you will get lucky and one of the Herd will come to you so you can kill him," the Nadder said.

I smiled at that thought, but considered it unlikely. I shook my head. Not once has anyone ever been able to take down a Night Fury, not my mother and I had no intention of letting myself getting taken down. "If they could see me, maybe," I said. I changed the topic of the conversation. "Do you have any hopes for how this Hunt will turn out, Nadder?"

I could see the birdlike Kin perform what passed for a grin for her type. "Maybe skewer a Herd, roast one. Not much, but enough to earn a enough distinction to have a name." That was an admirable goal and more or less the as what mine was. "I have not yet decided on what I p-"

Unfortunately for us, our conversation had to be cut short. I could hear the distance sounds of a telltale explosion followed by a cacophony of screams, Herd and Kin alike. I could see a fire building on one of those Herd spires as the structure collapsed in a single hit. That was my mother's doing and it was impressive and awe-inspiring to watch. At that point, One Eye and his Knights made a sharp dive. I followed them, making sure to stay high above the ground. Though I had been trained for the purpose, I was simply not ready to fight a ground battle alongside them at the initial parts of the attack.

"For the King's Glory!" "Herd Shall Die!" I could hear my Kin make different battle cries all at the same time from their roars.

One Eye and his Knights dove after a couple of those wooden caves and began setting them on fire. Herd defenders attacked in return, brandishing their weapons. Some were successful in killing, others were slain in their stead. They Herd made their cries, their meaningless sounds that did not convey language or understanding. They were just beasts after all.

I wasted no time and launched a full use of my Breath at one of my designated targets. The floating tree cave sank underneath the water as the hole I made in it caused water to flood inside. It had no Herd on it from what I could tell, but all the same, I was one step closer to before I would be allowed to persue my own Glory.

Other Kin joined me, apparently using my example as an excuse to cause destruction and mayhem for no reason other than it looked impressive. They set fire to some of those tree caves as they swept over them. I barked out my thanks and looked to continue my work.

* * *

**Author's Notes: **

**Funny thing, I consider this and the next chapter still actually be part of a prologue of sorts. This is because for some reason I really want to set up the stage in a logical manner, yet I did not want to skip the filler details due to me being OCD. As a result, no major Transformation stuff happens, but the set up to do these is now available. Which you will see glimpses for sure next chapter.**

**Good dialogue was really hard to write for so this Chapter I tried to make better use and practice out of multicharacter conversations. As a result of these though this chapter has less dialogue.**

**Hiccup's opening in this chapter is an echo of how he was when he was searching for Toothless, except the mood is inverted.**

**If anyone has been confused about the Night Fury Squire scenes, yes that is "Toothless's" point of view.**

**Also, anyone remember that scene where Toothless gave Hiccup some half-eaten fish as a sign of friendship and trust? Well, I imagined how that would work in dragon society, en masse. Obviously dragons do not share the same fears about cleanliness we do.**

**Having made the Red Death into a more King of Dragons and not a mind controller has ended up rather interesting… **

**Anyone ever thought about Astrid meeting Camicazi? I've always thought it would be a funny moment considering one was seemingly based on the other. As a result of how I understand them, they would invariably end up being rivals because of extreme competitiveness.**

**Also, yeah, the Berserker Tribe is… yeah. Really suffering for this. No other way to put it.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: Dream Works and Cressida Cowell own the How to Train Your Dragon franchise. **

**Please remember to review and provide constructive criticism. **

**Updated the summary to reflect a better understanding of where I want this fic to go.**

**I did however enjoy writing this chapter very much and so hope that I touched a bit more into the spirit of the franchise.**

**Also, I think this chapter is where the story starts to pick up steam, but I will warn you, things might be a little… grimmer than I had original anticipated. This is not typical for the rest of the fic, but is highlighted for this part.**

**This Toothless is fun to write, I mean, wow. You'll see what I mean when you get to his snippets. Although, I think I might finally be getting the hang of trying to write someone who does not know the terms we humans take for granted. Or well, human necessities or understanding.**

**I do hope Astrid and Camicazi's characterizations are well received, I'm trying to draw on from what I can to portray them better.**

* * *

The 'contest' between Camicazi and me dragged on for I do not know how long. After my successes at fending off the Bog Burglar from stealing my axe, we exchanged roles and the thief then had to protect her sword, which I had failed at. And then Ruffnut decided to get more involved once she decided having 'front seats' was not interesting enough.

I had to admit, Camicazi at least somewhat competent of a fighter…and a thief. She knew her way around a sword and despite her attitude, she at least had the skill to back it up. Unlike _every_ boy in my group. Then again, that might actually have to do with being a Bog Burglar. Seriously, if their greatest ideals is involve stealing, does that mean they steal from each other? How does that all work exactly? Did Bog Burglars engage in an endless cycle of stealing?

I still think I could probably beat her, in a proper fight, but those thoughts were cut short by the sound of destruction and battle cries. "Ooh," said Camicazi, cheerily. "A dragon raid!" With that action she grabbed a her sword and danced up to the door. And no, I did not mean she walked, she actually did some sort of dance. It was clear she was excited.

"Hey wait!" I said.

She seemed to take notice that I had said something and turned her head to face me. "Ooh I know," she said. "We should decide the winner of our little conflict by how well we do in the raid!"

Ruffnut to her credit ran out the door before Camicazi could register it. She said something about "mauling on her lower back" as she ran past the Bog Burglar. She had her double-ended spear with her and we both knew she was going to end up fighting.

I thought of that for a moment. On the one hand, I knew I was a strong warrior who had endured the constant sieges upon Berk for my whole life. Some have called even claimed I was the best in my generation. On the other hand, I knew I was not formally trained in the art of dragon slaying yet, where as I did not know if Camicazi had already went through those classes either. But if I did back out, I'd be admitting to defeat. Plus, trained or not, we were still expected to be warriors to defend our own village. _So what's more important, not dying or not charging in? _ I also realized that everyone else, was eager to try to get their first dragon kill before. I decided that I should at least try to be responsible for everyone else's sake. I did not trust Snotlout or Hiccup to not make a mess of things. "This is not where we should be," I drawled. Camicazi just grinned. I followed her out the door.

As I expected, we were not the only ones to go out as soon as the raid started. In fact, it seemed as though everyone of us had decided at the same time to go out and receive a fiery death. There did not seem to be any adults or other warriors where nearby, leaving us in relative privacy.

"Ooh," Camicazi said. "Look at that, these boys all want a piece of the action." She got out of the door and into the hallway.

"Darn right," said Snotlout. The boy pounded his fists together. "I'm going to take down that Night Fury and prove once and for all, I am the greatest Viking warrior that ever lived." We all stared at him, especially Hiccup. The Night Fury was the greatest prize any of us could hope to slay. Downing it had been in many of all our dreams and aspirations at least one time. When I was much younger, I dreamed of being able to throw my axe just high enough to decapitate the beast mid flight. Of course, such dreams stopped happening once I started competing in the Thawfest games.

"When you get horribly burned alive, can we have your stuff?" said Tuffnut. Some friend he was. Snotlout understandably ignored him, or was simply too prideful to notice. I would lying if some part of me did not want to see Snotlout get burned, just a little. Maybe drop his ego down a few notches.

"Snotlout," Hiccup said. Out of all of us, I believed Hiccup was the one who wanted to kill that dragon the most. I understood a little of why he wanted to slay it, but I did not understand why he believed that killing it would change the fact he was the worst Viking on Berk. "You _can't_ take down the Night Fury."

"And why not?" said Snotlout. "A wimp like _you_ going to stop me?"

Hiccup pointed at the weapon attached to his cousin's waist, one of Snotlout's many bludgeons. "You're going to try to kill a dragon known for high speed attacks, high altitude flights, and long range tower destroying attacks with a short range melee weapon that is poorly suited to throwing? Not even _I _am that crazy." I had to admit that was a good argument. I suppose having spend years making up hair brained plots to try to take that dragon gave the runt some idea of how to approach the problem of slaying it.

"Oh, so how are you going to take down the Night Fury?" Snotlout said.

"With this," Hiccup pointed to the weapon strapped to his back. The crossbow that he had spent all of yesterday fine tuning. Crossbows like it were not uncommon in the Barbaric Archipelago, but they were a poorly suited dragon slaying weapon. At best, it could shoot the wings or tails off to force a dragon to land, but otherwise, most dragons were simply too big to be hindered by one.

Snotlout immediately tried to grab the crossbow from Hiccup's back to examine it. I stopped him by slamming his foot with the butt of my axe. "Hey, get your own weapon, Snotlout," Hiccup said. On reflex, I saw chief's son perform a jab at the stronger boy. I was not expecting Snotlout to tumble back into the arms of Fishlegs, gripping his nose. Hiccup shook his left fist from the pain of the recoil.

"Hey," Snotlout protested. "You punched me!" The boy then removed his hand from his face to see a smear of blood. There was also a small drip of the red liquid sliding down his left nostril. I was surprised, I never knew Hiccup had a good enough left hook to beat a larger, more athletic youth. _Maybe he wasn't so weak after all. _Then again, might have been a fluke.

Hiccup looked surprised and tried to back away. "Uh sorry!"

"You're gonna to pay for that!" Snotlout lifted the smaller boy into the air and threatened to punch him with his freehand. That was when I noticed that everyone else had not been participating in the conversation. I turned and say what they were seeing.

"Put him down, Snotlout," I intervened.

"This isn't over." Snout dropped Hiccup to the ground, hard on his back. The smaller teenager, apparently used to this happening, got up quickly.

"Thanks," the boy grunted. Hiccup really should not have thrown that punch. I only saved him because I did not want to be blamed for Snotlout's misconduct. That and maybe he might actually have some use in the upcoming fight… assuming that punch was not a fluke.

"Look at this!" Then, I showed them what had been distracting the others while they had their little 'argument'.

Everyone had apparently been looking out at some windows and seen the raid. Hiccup and Snotlout just stared, a dumb struck expression on their faces. There was fire, a lot of it. Sure, we expected there to be some, but not a torrent so large that it threatened to engulf a whole settlement. Before us we could two _walls _of flame slowly eating their way through houses and buildings like it was the boar Sæhrímnir being offered up for a feast in Valhalla. And we were right in the middle of this.

"It's so beautiful," said Tuffnut.

"And so dangerous," Ruffnut completed. I could almost swear the twins were crying at the sight of it, but held it back. For what reason, I did not know. But I suspect that even they might have drawn the line at this.

"Our chances of surviving have gone down… by a lot," Fishlegs said. He obviously did not want to be in the firefight and shivered with anticipation. At that point, we could hear the Night Fury take down another tower. Fishlegs just curled up into a ball and tried to hide under the window sill. "We're all going to die, we're all going to die," he kept repeating until I slapped him out of it, mostly for my own benefit. "Uh, thanks."

"No problem," I said. Unlike everyone else, he was probably the only one who actually understood the danger.

Snotlout was just too awestruck to even make a reaction, apparently having forgotten all about Hiccup.

Another sound of a Night Fury's cry echoed through the battlefield. Hiccup drew out one of his spyglasses and began looking. After he apparently found what he wanted, he began walking down the hallway. "Where are you going?" I called out to him.

"To kill the Night Fury by the Southside," He said. "It's closer than the other one on the North."

"Wait two?" There were _two _Night Furies now? One was bad enough, having enough power to level buildings in a single blast, but that wasn't important as important as the fact he was going out to fight one of them in the first place. He was going out there in a warzone all in an attempt to kill one of those things. And given the kind of fire we were seeing, he'd likely get killed in the attempt. Useless Viking or not, he did not _deserve_ to die flat out because of such a stupid plan. "You can't really be serious. You going out there, you'll get yourself killed."

Camicazi interjected herself. "Ooh, Astrid, we should totally go with him, it'd be exciting." She was not helping.

Hiccup sighed and turned back to me. "Astrid, I _need _to do this." He was clearly insane. "And yes, I know you think I am insane for doing this." At least he knew it. "But this is the _only _way I could get any of you to respect me." He stopped and I approached him slowly.

"What?" I looked at the boy incredulously. "So you think trying to get yourself killed over a dragon is going to get you respect?"

"Yes," I heard the boy say. "I'd get more respect if I died _failing _to take down a Night Fury than everything else I have ever done."

I sighed. This issue clearly meant so much more to him than I realized. I had to stop him from getting himself killed. I could easily take down the scrawny boy and tying him up so he wouldn't hurt himself. Then, maybe I could go ask Stoic to get him kicked out of the class for his own good. The problem was that it would not stop him from continuing his attempts. I needed to beat out these stupid ideas right out of him. "You're not meant to be a warrior, Hiccup. You shouldn't even be trying to do this. Every time you tried ended in disaster."

I saw him frown. I was fine beating people up physically, those hurts healed quickly and did not end up causing any lasting damage. Attacking them emotionally however, was something I felt a little wrong to be doing. But if it was the only way I could stop him from getting killed, then I'd to it. I had to be responsible. "Astrid," he said in a soft tone. "Do you respect me at all?"

"No, I don't." I said. It was true. About the only thing I trusted him to do was to fix my axe on those hard days of practice and even then I didn't trust unless I was watching him. I could tell he was looking rather depressed, so I lowered my voice down when I continued. I hated myself for saying those words, but they had to be said.

"You're probably right…" Hicup said.

"Hiccup every time you tried, someone got hurt," I said. He was lucky that yesterday's attempt only ended with a positive note. Gobber said that he was partly responsible for naming her Magnus.

"All my life," Hiccup said. "I just… wanted to be like you… One of you guys…" Which was why Hiccup made all of his machines. He couldn't throw a bola, so he designs something to throw it for him. Can't chop firewood, he tries to make a device to cut it for him. The list of things Hiccup had _invented_ to make up for his weakness is staggeringly long; the list of successful inventions is countable without hands.

"But you can't," I said. "You're not a dragon fighting Viking, you're a probably better off stuck making bread or on small home repair. I know you want to be a fighter, but that just isn't you…"

"But fighting dragons is all that matters around here, anywhere in the Barbaric Archepelgio," he protested. He was going to make this difficult wasn't he? "How am I supposed to get you or dad to… like me a little more if I can't fight dragons?"

"You can stop trying to be something you're not," I admitted. "Do something else… like devoting all of your time to blacksmithing, that's always a good job." Honestly, if I could get him into a less dangerous goal, I could probably begin to respect him a bit more. Some of his ideas that I did see him try were actually quite clever, but typically ended up in disaster. Such as this one time he tried to make a _flaming sword_. Maybe he'd have better luck if he did not insist on making his test runs every time there was a raid.

I saw him think on my words for a moment. His eyes were closed and I could see him trying to respond. "I want one more chance," he said.

"What?" He couldn't be serious. He _still _wants to try.

"I want to try one last time," he said. "I need to know if my preparations this time might have done anything."

"Alone?" I said. "All of your previous dragon killing plans ended up in disaster."

"It's a good thing I am not the one who made I came up with it then." he said. What did he mean by that? Did someone else give him ideas? "Astrid, if I fail this time, I swear I'll give up chasing it. I'll… I'll even talk to my dad to get out of dragon training. But… only if you'd help me." He was sincere I knew him well enough to know that. This was what I wanted have happen.

I just did not expect him to add a stipulation. "Why me?"

"Plenty of reasons…" he admitted. "I don't think I can make it to the night Fury without help, those firewalls are too big. That and I need someone to back me up in the event I do down the Night Fury. Lots of people are going to want to claim it as theirs."

So that was my choice now. I help Hiccup now and hopefully if he survived, he would be give up his little crusade once he failed. If I do not, he will continue on as if this conversation never happened. One option gives me a permanent solution for danger on my behalf, the other was safer for me to do, but had increased risks for Stoic's son on both the long and short term. As I never shied away from danger, the choice was obvious to make. Chief Stoic would probably silently thank me if I put an end to his hunting career before he got himself killed.

But some other part of me wonder of a more… surreal result. That he does down the beast. The kill of a Monstrous Nightmare, even if done as a group effort was still a significant boon of prestige even when the credit was split evenly. While I normally am not desperate for that kind of recognition, I would be lying if I said that I wasn't _completely_ interested in downing the Night Fury for the prestige it would bring me. Overall, I had more to gain by joining Hiccup than I did not. "Deal." I saw the boy smile a bit. Maybe this plan would be good and all.

"Count me in, too," said Camicazi. I had been wondering where she had been. Maybe the conversation between me and the useless Viking had bored the girl… or maybe she had enough sense not to intrude. I would like to think the latter is what happened.

"Where is everyone?" Hiccup said. I turned my back and saw that aside from Fishlegs and Camicazi were the only others with us.

"Once you started yaking, Thuggory said he'd be taking the Northside Night Fury," Camicazi stated.

"Then, well, Snotlout and the twins went after him," added Fishlegs. "I think he was hoping that would happen." I had only seen Thuggory today and I had to admit. He was older by only a year, but I had the feeling he was a bit smarter than what you normally expected in a Tribal Heir. He probably wanted to give Hiccup his own private hunting trip.

"Well, we can't stay here." Hiccup marched towards the end of the hallway.

"Yes, we can! It's not hard." Fishlegs said as he went after his friend.

* * *

As far as 'Last Chances' went, this was by far the best I'd ever have. I had managed to get not only Fishlegs into aiding me, but also Astrid and Camicazi. Fishlegs despite his cowardly demeanor was without a doubt the strongest teenager on Berk and probably the only one who is as learned as I was. Camicazi was a good swordfighter and a cunning thief, though admittedly I had no idea how the later might help us. And I do not think I need to judge Astrid.

Granted, if I failed this time, I wouldn't be getting a next time. I promised Astrid and I try my best to stick with them, even if they were things I did not like. Even with the fact I could raise an axe the right way now, I knew I needed as much help as I could get. Stronger and smarter Vikings than me have tried and failed to capture or kill a Night Fury.

If I failed now, having the resources and allies I had, I likely did not deserve to have another attempt anyways. I've been trying to down a Night Fury ever since I turned ten years of age, one way or another, I knew would have to stop eventually, either being a victorious Viking or moving on to other activities.

I silently added a mental note to give Thuggory something in addition to the favors he owed me. I did not know why the older boy aided me every now and again, even though we were near strangers. _Despite being next-door neighbors island wise._ But often, I felt more liked by him than I did my own father. He had dragged Snotlout away from me off in the opposite direction of his own accord, without so much as needing a prompt. And I knew he did it for my sake since I had accidentally given Snotlout a nose bleed. I will admit, it did feel good for once to finally give him some pay back, even at the cost of being thrown on the ground. Though, I think Snotlout was atleast justified for his retalition this time. I needed to have better control of my own strength… _Which I never had to think about before… ever._ In either case, I did not have to worry about Snotlout or the twins mucking up my chances.

I sighed, the moment I had seen the scene Astrid had showed me, I already had devised a plan of how I was going to go about reaching my goal. The dragons had organized themselves into two 'firewalls', each a perfectly straight line of devastation and destruction fueled by the breath of innumerable dragons. I had not seen them do this before, but I knew of this act. According to the Book of Dragons, creating 'firewalls' was an event when the dragons decided to forgo taking food and go straight to destruction. It happened, very rarely without any discernible pattern to trigger the events to lead up to it. The last time this event happened had a decades ago.

My problem was that I could see that the Night Fury was somewhere beyond the firewalls, wasting its attacks on targets on the shoreline. In order for me to have a clear shot at the dragon, I had to get past the firewall. Soon, sun was rising any minute now. Which is where my plan came in…

"So uh Hiccup," Fishlegs asked, "Why are we at a fish vendor?" He said as he was looking through the various barrels.

"Just some last minute preparations," I countered. "We need a barrel full of striped eels." The store owner was likely out fighting right now. He had a habit of organizing the fish into barrels distinguished by type. I saw a barrel for trout, haddock, and shrimp. Still no sign of eels.

Everyone looked at me as if I had gone crazy, including Camicazi, which must have really said something, but I knew they were trying to hide it.

"Found it!" Cheered the Bog Burglar. I examined her barrel and sure enough, we had struck black and yellow gold. The barrel was tall as I was, making it very, very unlikely I could lift it with even my newfound strength.

"So are we just going to give them food and hope they thank us to not attack us?" Astrid said as she looked into the barrel.

Then I did the unthinkable. I grabbed an eel and started splattering myself in its juices before placing the eel into my shirt. Then I did it again. I earned the looks I received from everyone.

"Is this from the book?" asked Fishlegs. I nodded. That earned him looks from the girls. I splattered the boy with an eel.

"What book?" Astrid said.

"Oh nothing," I lied, partially. "Just a book full of dragony things. Like some eels being a common dragon allergen." I told them that it was a dragon related book. They did not need to know that I had an unnamed book full of dragon related knowledge, mundane and arcane.

"That's not all it is isn't it?" Astrid apparently knew when I was lying, even when I was telling the partial truth. Maybe it was my face. It was easier to lie to my dad. So I did the only sane thing a boy in my circumstances would. I hit Astrid with the eel I had and ducked behind a table. "Hey!" She pulled the eel off her face and examined it.

"Just put it on Astrid," I said, "This will repel dragons, hopefully."

"Hopefully?" added Fishlegs. "You do realize they might just decide to fry us to get rid of the stench?" I had not thought of that. If they hated us bad enough, they might decide to focus their attentions exclusively on us. I turned back to the barrel of stripped eels. Time for Plan B.

"Carry it, Fishlegs," I pointed at the barrel. "We're going to need it."

The whole point of the eel I threw to Astrid was to distract her, to get her focused at the task at hand… or on crushing me like a fly and not thinking about the book I had brought up. Sure enough it seemed to be working as Astrid, unexpectedly, shoved an eel in my mouth.

"That's payback!" she laughed, something she rarely did due her duties as a shield maiden. It was… sweet. I decided I liked the sound of her laughing. What was not sweet was the eel. Usually at the hands of Snotlout, I had more than my fair share of raw seafood entering my mouth. Usually, though it was slimy and wet. It was not supposed to set my mouth on fire and stop my breathing. I spat the fish out and coughed. "Oh sorry," Astrid said, "I didn't think you were allergic."

"Neither did I," I wheezed. My throat was returning to normal, but I did not understand what caused me to react like that. I had raw stripped eel inserted in my mouth before, but never had I reaction like that. Maybe I was starting to develop something?

"Oof, this is heavier than I thought it would be," Fishlegs retorted as he tried to lift the eel barrel. I knew Fishlegs was the strongest of our class, mostly due to his size. His problem was though he tended to not know how to use that strength in a fight.

At that moment, Camicazi's head poked out from the soup of apparently poisonous to dragon stripped eels. "Is that supposed to be a crack about my weight?" she spat angrily.

"What?" Fishlegs said in a panic. "No, it's not, I swear-" Camicazi got out of the barrel, while Fishlegs was still carrying it. The large boy did not so much as breathe as the Bog Burglar leapt out of the barrel and onto the ground.

"What were you doing there?" Astrid said. I had the same question in my mind.

"Oh, just being extra prepared. I want to repel as much dragon as I could, so I decided a little soak would do the trick," the Bog Burglar replied. "Besides, I heard fish oils were good for you."

"I'd say you're being ridiculous, but I started this off by putting eel juice on my face," I muttered.

"So why are we taking a barrel of eels with us again?" Fishlegs said.

"This is our weapon," I gestured to the eels. "I believe we can frighten off the dragons by throwing eels at them." I hoped that it would work that way.

"You want us… to fight dragons…with sea food?" Astrid said.

I nodded. "It might not be the most glamorous thing in the world, but hey, if it works, we don't get roasted."

She looked exasperated, "The one time I decide to be nice to you, I end up getting bathed in eel juice."

We all laughed at how ridiculous this plan was. I should know, I came up with it.

After that incident at the fish vendor, came the next step. Attempting to break through the firewall would either end with us claiming glory or use meeting a fiery end. In front of us there was a group of Viking warriors, names and allegiances I did not know. They were engaged in a conflict between a group of mixed dragons, mostly Gronckles and Nadders, but there was a single Nightmare amongst them.

"Are you ready?" I asked my companions. Fishlegs was behind me, the eel barrel easily carried without an additional eighty pound Bog Burglar adding to the weight. Astrid and Camicazi were at my left and right respectively, each with a couple of eels stuffed in the places where one would normally expect throwing knives. I myself had a couple of eels stuffed in my shirt and under my fur vest. I did not know why, but the longer I held the eels in my hands, the more I left unnerved by them. Like I was…_afraid_ of carrying them around for some reason. I shoved those thoughts away, they were irrational… or atleast, impractical.

"We look ridiculous," they all said at the same. I figured as much.

"I know." I commented. I had the feeling we would all agree never speak of this unless we were forced to... on pain of death. Then I started running. They all started following me. "Charge!" I yelled. Yes, it was incredibly dorky, but nothing else felt appropriate.

Vikings and dragons alike turned to look at the spectacle, apparently so stunned to forget they were supposed to be fighting for a brief moment. Eels were flung into the air at an astounding rate. The ones we kept on our my throws, I noticed, were not as pathetic as they had once been. Dragons flew away at the stench and retreated into the sky. The last to least was the Nightmare, which I had noticed had only one eye. I had the feeling he was staring at me intently. The Vikings were in a stunned silence at the scene, quite confused at what was happening. I knew I would be.

"We did it!" Fishlegs cried, still managing to maintain a full sprint while carrying a bucket still partially filled with eels.

"Yeah!" Camicazi said. "Not a single singe or scratch on me."

"Okay, I had to admit, that turn out better than I expected." That was Astrid.

It felt… good for once to have a plan work as I had intended. The moment eels were added into the equation, those dragons turned tail and ran. Everything went smoother than even I had expected, almost… too smooth.

Then I realized that dawn was coming, which explained why they ran so easily. Dragon raids never lasted past dawn, might have been a predatory instinct. They simply didn't need to continue fighting when it was nearly time to go anyways. I had just provided them with an easy excuse to leave.

I ran faster, drawing my crossbow out. I leapt over the charred body that was too ruined for me to tell who it belonged to, but I assumed it was human. The old Hiccup would never have been able to do that. "Hiccup!" someone behind me cried, the voice becoming more distant as I went. I had to hurry, before the Night Fury escaped as well.

Sure enough, the beast was still here, making a dive at a boat and delivering a death blow. The sky was still black, but the faint glow of sunlight was soon peeking over the horizon. The light was not bright enough to provide clear vision, yet, despite that, I could clearly see the creature's silhouette against the sky… It did not matter.

I shot the beast as soon as the boat exploded into a thousand parts.

* * *

I had wasted far too much time. My Kin, though initially willing to aid me in sinking the Herd's… water wood caves, turned their attention to more immediate and glory fulfilling matters. The majority had been reduced to ash by the initial wave of fiery bombardment by Gronckle lava, but those that remained were still my charge. Meanwhile, I was left on my own to destroy these… things. Worse yet, the Herd evacuated the moment the Hunt began and provided me with no opportunity to gain recognition without breaking the King's laws. I was never going to earn a kill at this rate

Dawn was coming soon and I still had several things I needed to destroy. I had to spend some time resting so that I could recover some of my breath, but I felt I was at my limit. I decided it was best I left as soon as I destroyed this last one. As soon I did, I had noticed, one of the Herd that had a strange, thing pointed at me. It surprised me as the Herd had run en mass from the shore to better defend their nest. It did something and soon, I felt a pain enter into my belly. A small object of some sort penetrated my scales and wounded me.

For something so small, it hurt far more than it should have. And the pain was spreading everywhere throughout my body and it grew worse. My wings felt stiff and I plummeted to the ground like a falling stone. I crashed into one of those vines that the Herd fancied in many of their tree dwellings before hitting the dirt. The sudden impact and the twisting of my body had entangled me in the vines, preventing me from taking any movement. I wanted to burn myself free, but my stomach and heart had felt as though they were made of stone.

I saw… the Herd that shot me approach me from the side, wielding an… axe, I believe that's what my mother called it, in its hand. He looked far smaller than more of the Herd I had seen before, maybe he a juvenile? Behind him were three others, all of them approaching slowly weapons drawn, all of them with yellow fur atop their heads. The large on in particular, looked like he could crush my windpipe with his bare hands.

I was scared. All of them reeked of death, their stench made me cringe. I wish I could move my legs so that I might have a chance to survive. All I could do was look to see that my captors were slowly making their taunts and meaningless sounds. I could see my Flight overhead retreating in droves from the sun's coming light. They were abandoning me to die.

The Herd that shot me, the smallest and the only one with brown fur approached me, the axe hung lazily. I could see the means that brought me down stored upon its back. He made roars and repeated sounds and taunts near me.

When I was a fledgling, I heard stories about this time, memories from older and more experienced Kin having watched their mates and loved ones suffer cruel ends at the paws of the Herd. The Herd always went for the kill; me being unable to use my Breath and my claws to break my bonds and my enemies just made me easier to slay. Now I was about to experience those accounts first hands… and I would not survive to tell the tale. _I wonder, what awaits me after this?_

I was going to be brave about, I decided. I looked my attacker in the eyes and waited for the end… I could see its eyes… And I thought for a moment… that he could see my fear. Maybe the Herd enjoyed it, watching one of the Kin's last moments to be filled with fear. I closed my eyes. I was not brave enough to see my own end. Nothing was happening, except for that my attacker and his compatriots were making those sounds again. For a moment, I thought that they were… arguing amongst themselves. But that can't be right can it? Beasts like the Herd do not speak.

Before long, I heard the vines being cut one by one. The bindings that held me were growing weaker and weaker with each snap. I took my chances and as soon as I had enough freedom to move, I leapt up and pinned down the Herd that had shot me. My right claw dug into it shoulder a little, drawing some blood. My paws were bigger than his whole neck, and I could snap it with little effort. I could hear its companions gasp in shock, their weapons were drawn, but they did not want to risk slaying their leader. A small trickle of blood from the wound I received dripped onto the creature's chest.

I locked his eyes with mine again. He was at my mercy. I saw his eyes and saw he too was afraid to die. It unnerved me to see that fear. Why, I did not know, but it felt… wrong. I did not want to see it any longer. If I killed it, I would not have to see the look of fear in his eyes again.

Then, I realized that this creature had released me from my bonds, even though it was the one that placed me there. Which made this whole thing even more uncomfortable. For what purpose? I did not know. Surely even the dumbest of animals could realize letting your prey escape was a bad idea, especially when that prey was the Kin. But regardless, I realized that by releasing me, it had set up an obligation for me. Even though it was a lowly beast, I could not kill it. Honor dictated that I had to return the favor. _Even though its head would make a fine offering to my Lord. _I just had to hope its compatriots would not strike me down once their admittedly small leader was out of the way.

I decided the best thing to do then was to scare them and hope they were frightened enough to not pursue me. I let my hold on the creature's neck down and delivered a terrifying shout. "Go away!" Hopefully it could just understand the loudness, though I doubted it was that intelligent. The creature looked stiff as a tree and I turned and quickly made a run for it. The Herd then attempted to comfort their fallen master and did not bother to deal with me. I was free to go it seemed. I jumped up and flew away.

At least, that had been my whole goal. My wings did not function and I promptly plummeted down on the ground face first. Instead of soft dirt however, I had the misfortune to pummel my skull against the Herd cut up trees. The wood split in two in several places and my face felt uncomfortably broken.

Of course, getting a concussion was the least of my worries. The pain that had downed me earlier came back in full force. My body ached in ever place, especially in my bones. It was like I was being set on fire, from the inside out… and I saw that I was actually on fire. Specifically, green fire, like I had suddenly become a Nightmare for a second, but had not been granted protection from the self-immolation. I collapsed on the ground shortly afterward, my body, felt weary and ravaged. And that made me still vulnerable to the Herd should they decide to slay me.

"Okay, that was weird" I heard a voice say. "Are dragons supposed to do that?"

A blinked, a little hope had been rekindled. The voice's source, I was uncertain of, but I felt that it was my Kin who had come to save me. Though, I did not understand what the word "dragon" meant or the confusion shown by the voice. Maybe it was one of my Kin thinking that I had been willingly spared was an oddity. Then I realized that the voice came from behind me. I turned and looked.

"Hiccup," one of the yellow fur headed ones said. "Dragons do not turn into… Norsemen."

The one addressed as 'Hiccup', the one that had shot me and I had just spared, replied, "But… how much do we know really know about dragons, Astrid? This might be completely normal for all we know." Then there was an argument I had a hard time trying to follow. I gathered from that 'dragon' they were referring to me. The other term 'Norsemen' was still unfamiliar, but I figured I might get a better grasp of it later. None of this made sense though, why was I suddenly understanding the sounds the Herd made. They were just common animals, not capable of speech or reasoning.

Then I had a sinking feeling enter my gut. I saw that my paw was a disturbing shade of pink. My paw was abnormally… small, frail looking. The claws had become dull and useless for scratching or digging. The scales were too soft, and seemed far less durable than they were. I checked other parts of my body, frantically searching for answers. I was missing my tail, I had grown fur. The wound I had taken earlier had seemingly vanished, along with whatever it was that had injured me. "H-how is…" I gasped. My voice was… different. It was my own words, I understood them, but it seemed so… alien. The reason I could understand the Herd, was because I had become one of them.

Then, the argument between the ones who had been referred to as 'Hiccup' and 'Astrid' came to an abrupt end. Because in the blink of an eye, the other yellow furred one was suddenly wrapped around by vines.

* * *

It does not take a genius to notice when a 'Thing' is being called and for what reason. It does not take a genius to notice that dragon raids have increased or that there were now two Night Furies. It does however, take a genius to know a perfect opportunity when he sees one. Now, I could have easily raided the Tribes that so foolishly left skeleton crews to guard their islands with my whole fleet, but I was after a bigger prize. Or should I say, smaller?

"Filthy Outcasts!" The entangled girl shouted. "Let me go so I fight you like the little girls you are!" The Bog Burglar Heir, though a master escapist in a society of thieves, was clearly the most valuable possession of the infamous Bertha the Big. Same went with every Heir in fact. Now, if I had simply just raided from every Tribe, they would have just went on with their lives and I'd simply have whatever it is I stole… but I grab the heirs, I'd have them and more.

All I had to do was simple, wait for the dragons to incinerate half of Fort Sinister then swoop in and take their Heirs amidst the chaos. Failing that, well, use that time to gather information about the shattered defenses and scatter spies for future use.

"It's Alvin the Treacherous!" Shouted the large blond boy. He must have been Thuggory, I heard about him. Meathead Heir and a tough young man, or so I heard. Apparently his reputation had been exaggerated as he broke out into a loud scream. "Run for your lives!" It did not save him as he had been entangled by two bolas. "Or not…" Two dozen of my men, with assorted weapons, marched and surrounded the Heirs before they could run away. They were trapped and all that was left to do was to subdue them. From what I could see, there were no other Vikings who even notice that we were here. There was no escape for them.

"In the flesh," I said. Everything was going according to plan and there was nothing that could be done to stop me.

"What do you want?" That was Stoic's disappointment. I knew the stories of his supposed 'uselessness', but I knew his daddy well enough to know he had a soft spot for the body. He was the most useful of the lot, for I bet he would have the highest ransom. And if not, well, I heard he made some rather interesting inventions. And if that does not work, well, I had other uses.

"Isn't it obvious?" I pointed at them. "You lot and the Night Fury." The only reason I had found these runts was because I had seen an unidentified shape plummeting to the ground. The sound of its roar and its fire however made it plainly clear to me what it was. Would have been a foolish of me to pass up the opportunity to kill the actual heroes and pass off the deed as my own accomplishment. Even I had to worry about things such as reputation. "Now you lot can come peacably or I can capture you the hard and painful way, which will it be?" Their faces told me 'no'. It didn't matter.

"It's gone, Alvin," said Stoic's boy, "It's not here."

"Pity then," I commented, "I was looking forward to mounting its head above my fireplace." I looked down and saw… a naked boy looking at me with fear in his eyes. He was around the same age as the rest of the heirs and had dark hair that was all matted in an odd fashion. "Now who is this?" He must have been Dagur… I heard the other Heirs did not like him much, so I assume this must have been some idea of a prank. Or he might have lost his clothes in a fire.

"He's no one important," said Hiccup. "Just leave him be." The girl who resembled the Bog Burglar Heir gave him a stern look. I did not understand the implication, but that meant that the boy was someone important. And… someone who was not Dagur. It might have been important anyways, safe to keep him locked up along with the others.

Then, the Bog Burglar looking girl threw her axe at me. "Will you look at that! I knew I could always use a new axe." Unfortunately for her, I easily grabbed the axe and strapped it to my belt. "Trying to kill Alvin the Treacherous? Ooh hoo! You're not as smart as you look," I taunted her. The look on her face was just priceless. I must have taken something very valuable of her's.

As if on cue a net came up over her, ensnaring and entangling her. Apparently we ran out of bolas. Now all that was left were the naked boy and Stoic's disappointment. I had meant for this all to take a short incident, but I couldn't resist dragging this out. Especially since no Vikings had come searching for us yet. I loved the uncertain fear on their faces as I slowly let them suffer a bit more.

Then, I had seen the unclothed boy trying to crawl his way out unnoticed. Obviously it failed. "Well, will you look at that? Poor kid thinks he can get away," I punished him for his attempt by kicking him in the face. He bled. A few teeth even came flying out of his mouth. I knelt down and picked up the discarded teeth and just relished in the moment of it. "Hey look, I think I found myself a new souvenir." My men laughed alongside me. I had expected him to make a retaliation or a war cry, but it appeared that I had knocked him out. Just as well, it was probably time to leave anyways. "Knock them out and take them."

The children gave screams of protest as the my men used various tricks till they would pass out. Typically, hitting them on the head until they fell unconscious. About the only one left was Stoic's runt who had tried to run as he had understandably not been entangled by a net or bolas. So for him, I decided the simplest means was to grab his puny neck. His struggling was pointless, though I had to admit, he was more of a hassle than I had anticipated. No matter, I had to hit his head three times before he dropped unconscious. Then I stole his bag and I threw him on the ground, where two of my men then set out to carry him into the ship's hold.

I grinned, now that everyone on my capture list was out cold. It was time to check the spoils. For some reason, the kids had a barrel full of stripped eels with them. Could easily serve as food for my crew and my hostages, so that was taken. Obviously the weapons held by the children would be put to better use in Outcast hands. In particular, the axe of that shield maiden would make a nice partner for my own personal one. Plus the steel and wood crossbow would be an excellent for me.

But what was most interesting was what Stoic's lad had with him in his backpack. Most Vikings you see, did not value knowledge. In fact, most were adverse to reading as though it were a plague. Not I though. I was a futurist. I saw the boy had an interesting black book upon his possessions. One filled with strange and draconic lore.

I was reading some of the book on the way back to my ship, noting the odd bits of knowledge that were possessed by it. Most of it though was useless to me. I did not want to know about dragons, unless I could use that information for my own ends. Of course then I found an interesting little entry. "Savage," I called for my first mate, probably the only one slightly less incompetent than the rest. "Place an order for deadly nightshade berries. And see if you can cover that boy up, I don't want to see him unclothed on my ship."

* * *

I awoke with my teeth hurting. There was… something in my mouth, something soft. I spat it out and found a what used to be some sort of sheet of woven white plant stuffs. It was soaked in blood, my blood. That… Herd that kicked me in the mouth had done far more damage to me than I had ever thought possible. I used my new paws to feel the shape of my new mouth and my face. _I wish I had a pool of water I could look into, I need to see my face._

I had become… covered in furs of some sort, making me feel somewhat warmer. I had always thought the Herd had grown large fur on every portion of their bodies, but it appears I was wrong. I tried to get up and walk on all four of my legs, but the position felt awkward. Then I remembered that the herd instead walked on their hind legs. I tried that instead and felt slightly more comfortable, though it still felt so strange to only need two legs. It all felt so… alien to me. What happened? Why did I become one of the Herd?

When I was done checking myself over, I searched my surroundings. I was completely surrounded by wood, inside one of the Herd's caves, I assumed. Though the space felt so narrow and Near me was a set of bars, made out of that substance that was only found in some Herd made items like axes. Beside me were the Herd that had dispatched me. I felt so small near them. Before I had easily towered over them, now though I had the feeling I was the shortest. The one called 'Astrid' along with the two others who I had not learned of their identities were seated far away from me. Meanwhile 'Hiccup' had appropriately placed near me. Those terms have must have been what they were similar to how Kin referred to each other when one lacked a name. Though 'Hiccup' sounded ridiculous. Aside from that, I could not find anything or anyone else of notice. The Herd that had captured all of us have seen it fit not to leave a guard.

Its features were not as I remembered them being the last time I had seen him. Its left hand was different from his right; the left had started growing claws. The left side of its face had… changed. A small patch of black scale had formed around the left eye. Which at that moment had slide open and revealed a large lime-green iris that I was familiar only with my mother and my own reflection.

It stirred awake and leapt back at me in reflex as I examined it.

What I was about to do, broke so many different assumptions I had about the Herd and the Kin. I was going to hold a conversation with one, because I needed answers and I hated not knowing. I knew they could talk because of events of the previous night. "You will undo what you have done to me, Herd," I stated flatly. I hated how my voice sounded, but I did not care if it would get me back to my true form as soon as possible. I figured that whatever it was that brought me down, was the likely culprit. I was familiar with strange powers, as that was often the most valued prize the King would give to a loyal subject. Granted, most kept their powers secret from all of the most trusted, so I had only a few stories to go along about what worked like. Though I never thought the Herd access to such things as well.

The Herd blinked at me, trying to understand what I said. "Listen… dragon, I do not know what happened… that arrow I shot you with, that was supposed to paralyze you, not… turn you into this…"

"You just gestured to all of me," I stated. That for some reason caused the Herd to give a brief chuckle. I did not understand the joke. My frown was enough to convince him to start laughing. "Also… what is wrong with your hand? And your face?"

As I said that, the Herd had a chance to look up and see that his hand was growing claws and forming black scales. He then frantically felt his own face. "Yeah, that could be bad."

"I just want you to fix this, tell me what has happened to you and me."

"I don't know, the book never said anything about this… then again I didn't have time or the ability to read through it all." Book? That was a new term on me. Admittedly, there were several new things I was learning today.

"What's a book?" I wanted to get this conversation back on topic, but not knowing what he said made this even more infuriating than it should be.

"Uh it's where you put writing in it and use it… None of that makes sense to you does it?" It could see the look of confusion on my face. 'Writing' and 'Book' were now being added to the small but ever growing list of things the Herd has words for that I do not understand. "So anyways… Fishlegs." -he pointed to the large blonde furred one- "And I been read- er learning about dragon related stuff… Uh you know that you kind are dragons right? Nightmares, Nadders, Gronckles, and so forth?"

"So, you use the term, 'dragon' to refer to my Kin, do you not?" It nodded. Surprisingly the terms of the various Kin were exactly the same as before I had the learn all of these other new terms.

"Okay, so I drank this potion and I shot you with this arrow… and now we're like this," It explained. That fascinated me somewhat. Apparently, the Herd had power outside of the King's service. Maybe I should learn more about 'potion', 'book', 'reading', and 'write' when I had the chance. I had never heard of the Herd possessing such capabilities before, but then again I did not never heard of anyone having a conversation with one of the Herd before.

"Can you change us back then?" I asked.

"I do not know, it never came up or at least was not in Norse." My frown made it evident that I did not know what Norse was. "It's a language…" Another word I did not know… "It's what we're speaking in right now… We're talking in Norse… and you can read Norse… speaking of how are you able to speak Norse."

"I don't know…" I responded. "This is all too confusing. Neither of us know anything that can get us out of this mess." It nodded.

So we stayed silent for a long moment, thinking of good questions that the other can actually answer. The other Herd were still asleep, not moving and barely breathing. I did not have to like the Hiccup, but I had to be respectful, honorable. I wanted to return to my true self, but I knew that I could only do that if the being that had inflicted this...curse upon me also helped me to remove it. That required cooperation... and trust, as much as I disdained it. After thinking long and hard about whether or not I wanted to bring up this subject, I asked. "Why did you spare me?" I decided not to ask about why he had decided to defend me from capture earlier, at least, for now.

The Hiccup spent a moment trying to think about how to phrase its answer. "Because I saw that you were scared to die…" it said, a solemn tone in its voice. "Is that why you did the same for me?"

"Yes and no. Mostly, I was honor bound to do so." The Hiccup nodded in turn. Admittedly, I did feel, its fear when I nearly decided to slay it, but I was not going to admit to caring about the feelings of another, especially not one of the Herd. Even though we were playing a sort of game. "Why did you go out and… shoot me in the first place?"

"I wanted to kill you," it admitted. "So I could… offer your heart for my father and bring him glory Sorry about that…" I kept my face still, trying to hide my emotions on the subject. That was a chilling thought. The Herd had a concept for glory by slaying as the Flights did. All this time, I had thought that the Herd just did what it did because they were mere beasts simply resisting the Hunt. To realize that the Herd was capable of acting with the context of glory, was somehow unsettling to me in a way that I never thought possible. Especially since I tried to slay the Hiccup for much the same reasons it had to slay me. _But that should not matter, it is just one_ _of the Herd, not one of the Kin_."So hey, what do I call you." With any luck he did not put my recent thoughts together.

That question was easier and did not likely have any more unsettling truths I would need to learn. "I have always been called the Night Fury by my Nest."

"But you aren't a Night Fury right now…" It said.

"It is what I truly am," I protested.

"So you don't have a proper name?" I shook my head at its question.

"I can just remain nameless I believe," I stated.

"Well, you kinda' can't." I looked at it questioningly. "Most everyone has a name…" Just when I thought something so innocuous such as asking about names could not get any more unusual.

"What does…'everyone' do to have a name?" I asked. Names were something the King had issued to trusted servants, such as Knights or very productive gatherers. If all Herd had a name, that was an oddity and I wondered for what accomplishment would they have to be deserving of.

"From being born?" It replied. "Or maybe Tribal admission, everyone gets their names when they're just wee babies."

Boring born was enough for Herd to name their offspring? Were they really so prideful and arrogant? "So… if everyone has a name… what's your's?"

"Uh my full name is… Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third," it said. It was… longer than I thought it would be. I suddenly felt so… stupid for believing that 'Hiccup' referred to its kind. It was still a rather silly name. "So yeah, now that you're human… you kinda need to have one… since naming yourself Night Fury might be a bit… awkward." I nodded, understanding the logic. I had pieced together that 'human' meant what Herd called themselves, like how they called the Kin as 'dragons'.

"So what do you recommend?" Besides, I only needed to have that name so long as I was bound in this weak body. Once I returned to normal, I could discard it.

"How about 'Toothless'?" Hiccup said.

"Why Toothless? Oh…" Hiccup was reffering to the fact that I had lost teeth due to that large Herd that Kicked me. The one Hiccup said was 'Fishlegs' said that man was named 'Alvin'.

"Think of it as… well a name you got because of a notable battle scar…"

"Like One Eye?" I said. One Eye, my Flight Commander was proud of his name, that much I knew. I had heard he earned the name when he had slain his own Flight Commander ages ago. He was proud of it because it was his finest moment.

"Yeah, exactly like that!" Hiccup said.

On the other hand, I wasn't exactly proud about the fact I had been kicked in the teeth hard enough to lose them. Still, it didn't sound too bad. Plus, it wasn't as though I had to stay 'Toothless' forever right? Afterall, it was better than 'Fishlegs'. "I guess it could work… I guess I shall be 'Toothless' then."

* * *

**Astrid's characterization is… difficult to grasp as her development in the movie makes her into a very different person than she used to be. As a result… me trying to merge both of movie and tv Astrid resulted in the portrayal you ended up seeing her above. Man, I forgot how mean early movie Astrid is… Really complex character that one. Trying to balance it, hope you like this.**

**Dragons in general do not even think humans are even sentient… so as you can imagine…that bleeds heavily into Toothless's PoV**

**For those of you wondering why Hiccup and Toothless AKA the Night Fury that got shot have ended up transforming different ways. That's because both of them have been turned via different means. Hiccup drank a potion and Toothless had an arrow.**

**Also originally considered averting the instant communication aspect that is so common in transformation works, but this would just make it next to impossible to tell a good story without… adding complication. So I settled for what you see above in the Hiccup and Toothless conversation.**

**And yeah, I intentionally made it so that Toothless does not use male or female pronouns for humans. Mostly due to ignorance.**

**Oh and in case you guys have not figured this out yet, this Fic is now officially "Off the Rails." And I bet all of you guys were expecting the Red Death to be the only antagonist in this fic. Nope.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: Dream Works and Cressida Cowell own the How to Train Your Dragon franchise. **

**Additional disclaimer, this chapter is full of boats… I have no idea what happened.**

**Please remember to review and provide constructive criticism. **

**Changing update schedule to go on Weekends. As an apology, this chapter is slightly longer than the previous ones.**

* * *

My name was Toothless. I sat there silently, contemplating my new…existence. The name may not have been given to me by my King, yet I accepted it from a near complete stranger no less. If I had to rationalize my action, I could say that that one had defeated me in fair combat, thus entitling it the right to do whatever it wanted with me. At least, that's how I would tell any Kin who asked me. No one needed to know that I had simply chosen to have a name because as a _human_ it was simply common practice.

I hated this new body of mine. It was frail and weaker than my old one, not to mention the obvious lack of wings meant that I would never fly while I was in this form. I lacked the ability to use my ears to echolocate and my eyes did not adjust as much as I hoped they would to the darkness. On top of that I felt… ill. Like my stomach was being churned in and out. I did not know what was the cause of it, but the illness felt somewhat familiar. "Are you okay?" asked Hiccup.

"Just fine," I lied. It clearly did not believe me.

"I think you might be getting seasick," it said. Its draconic eye scanned me, hopefully figuring out my problem. Hiccup grabbed the object that had been in my mouth only a few minutes prior. "This your first time on a boat?"

"I do not know that word, so assume that it is." I responded. My stomach lurched back and forth. "I assume you mean this… thing we are on."

It nodded, "Yes, we're on what's called a boat…" So that's what they were called. Now I could stop having to reinvent a new phrase everything one of those boats came up into a discussion with the Kin. "Anyways, what you're experiencing motion sickness from being rocked back and forth, you'll get used to it, eventually…"

"So is it like skysickness?" I said. Skysickness was a common ailment that happened when fledgling Kin first started learning how to fly. It was caused mostly by a fledgling's body still being unused to moving around on the air currents and updrafts. I, like so many other young Kin, had thrown up breakfast after a swift dive. Unlike other Kin, I had done so on my own mother, but that was many, many moons ago, long before she earned her name or became a Flight Commander. As a result, my punishment had only been having to bathe with her, which at the time I dreaded more than anything else as it meant having to be ridiculed by the other fledglings.

"I don't know, not familiar with that word." Hiccup said. "But maybe." I agreed upon thinking about it, skysickness and seasickness were related in my mind.

I laughed. "Finally, a term I know that you don't." I knew it was petty of me and I really should not have delighted in flaunting it, but having learned of the _existence_ of the seemingly larger Herd, I mean, human, vocabulary, I wanted a chance to be able to upstage it. "So how do I deal with it for now?"

"Well, usually, I just tried to keep my mind on other things, so I guess maybe continuing to talk." it said.

"Then what do we talk about?"

"Boats?" Hiccup suggested.

"I'd rather talk about other things 'potions', 'books', 'reading', and 'writing'. Those things were related to how we… changed." That and because I wanted to know of these strange abilities that the Herd possessed. If they had the power to change me, a proud Night Fury, in to… one of them I needed to be able to know how I might defeat it. _Why had I not heard of from any of the Kin possessing such capabilities before?_

"I wish I could, but I think it would be easier to talk about things if I had an example and Alvin having taken all of my things, including all of my books. All we have right now is the boat." I thought about it for a moment. It gave me a perfect opportunity to learn more about these human-made things. I would finally know how these things worked and operated. Might be easier to use boats to transport truly prodigious quantities of food rather than flying. I nodded in response. I've heard tales from my lowly commoners who were sent scouting about the _mountains_ of fish that the Herd could carry on these so called boats. I would present this knowledge to my King on my return and be rewarded handsomely.

"And so we're having a discussion about having a discussion…" I said. Hiccup just gave a chuckle. "Go ahead, I will listen."

"To be honest, I don't know much about boats. I probably would know more if dad had decided to send me to Roman school." This was getting old, 'Roman' was another word did not know. I need to figure out a means of remembering all of these world so I might pester someone for their meanings later. 'School' however, I was familiar with. That implied that among humans there was something of a formal education to be learned, though I suspected that it might have been different from what I had learned. It noticed that. "I'm going to have to start explaining things aren't it? Well, I do know a bit of how boats are built. The boat we're on, like most other Viking longships, is made using a method called 'lapstrake' that means each of the planks is overlaid over the next. In between each plank is animal hair or wool soaked in pine tar, this keeps the hull, the body of the ship, another word for boat, from taking in water while at sea, thus making it float. You get all that?" I nodded.

"So how does a boat move?"

"Well, sails and oars are needed for the ship to sail. Sails are those large sheets of cloth or fabric you see above the rest of the ship and oars I guess are like the arms coming from the body. Without them, a ship is unable to control its own movement and is at the mercy of the tides…" I did not understand what 'cloth' or 'fabric' meant, but having spent all of early morning destroying ships, I knew what he was referring to.

"So is it like a dragon losing its wings or tail fins being unable to fly and being at the mercy of the ground?" I asked.

"Yeah, like that." It replied. Boats were certainly more interesting than I had originally anticipated. I had already surmised that boats were useful, but there was much more to learn about that one subject than I realized.

Hiccup then got up from where it sat, and moved straight over to one of the walls of the ship we were on. That posture to me looked awkward and more like they were falling forward than actual walking. I followed, moving my four legs… "Hey, you probably start learning how to walk properly..."

I blinked. "We have four legs, why do you not move with all of them?" Among the Kin only Nadders were the kind to not use four legs to walk and that was only because their wings could not reach the ground. Then I realized that I had only ever seen the Herd move upon their two hind legs.

"Toothless," it used the name it gave me. "Humans only have two legs and two arms. We only use legs for walking and arms for when we need to interact with the world. You have to start learning to use them as a human does or well, people will figure out you're a dragon…"

I snorted, but I had understood why. I had accepted the name because it was an offering, a gesture of goodwill from the human. It was both a symbol of his trust of me as well as a camouflage. There was a 'kill on sight' order for any Herd that had wandered too close to the Nest and I had reason to suspect that the Herd had similar rules. I had to make my best effort then not to advertise my true existence as a dragon and seem as _human_ as possible. I did not however have to enjoy it. I got up, and stood for the first time in this new body of mine on my two legs. My feet were unsteady and my balance made me feel uncomfortable. "Is this better?"

Hiccup only smiled. I moved forward, using my legs to propel me along side of it. Once I had reached the wall, it grabbed one of my paws and placed it on the wall. It was very smooth and I moved my paw back and forth to feel its texture. I found the hairs and hardened tree sap as Hiccup had described earlier. "I do not know how dragons do things, but humans use their hands for nearly everything they want to touch." It felt oddly comforting doing this, using my… hands.

But there was a more important matter that needed to be addressed. The only reason I had become human was because Hiccup had struck me down and as far as I knew he was the only one who had any means to return me to normal. I realized that I might not be able to forcibly coerce the human to do that and thus I needed to be more respectful.

We stood there for a silent moment, continuing to examine the side of the boat for no real reason other than to take up time. I broke the silence once again. "If you ever learned of a means to change me back into a dragon, would you use it on me?" I had to ask. I needed to know if it would aid me. If it would, then I would do my best to support its efforts in any way that would support that outcome. If not, then I had better find other avenues.

Hiccup hesitated for a moment before giving its answer: "I did this…" it said as it held my hand. "I have to do my best to undo it… If I find anything, yeah I change you back."

Hiccup's answer was fair… and in a way noble. The human knew to take responsibility for it actions and thus would do my best to fix it. Admittedly, most dragons, especially commoners did not really understand how to handle responsibility, though that usually had to do with a lack of education. "You are very honorable…for a human…" I replied. This caused Hiccup's face to turn slightly redder. I did not know that meant, so "Well, is there any way I could help?"

"Would you be willing to work with my friends?" Hiccup pointed at the still unconscious humans. I was not so certain that they would be as amiable to me Hiccup had been. If they were feeling particularly violent, there was nothing I can do to stop them.

I thought about it for a moment and then decided. "If it will get me out of this mess, I will do it."

"Would you harm them?" Hiccup asked. The reasoning behind the question was obvious. It needed to ensure his allies would not come to harm as a result of my actions.

"No," I said. Silent I added a stipulation, which likely went without saying: provided they do not harm me.

"Promise?" It said. This was getting repetitive.

"On my honor," I exclaimed.

"You have honor?" Hiccup sounded even more skeptical of my words.

"All dragons have honor," I said as a matter-of-factly. This was getting repetitive. _Is he really that much of a…_ I then realized I may have sounded offensive than I had meant to. "Look, Hiccup, I'll do my best to work alongside your friends you can trust me… In fact, maybe we should wake them up now?"

"No, I think we should let them rest… and I think they might be immediately distrustful of you, since even if they do not remember who you are, they would not have any reason to trust you."

And as if it was planned out, one of them got up and looked around the room. "Seems like one of them has decided to awaken." It then focused on Hiccup, with a look that I could only describe as an odd mix of fear, anger, and confusion in its eyes. It scanned the room trying to make sense at what had happened and locked eyes with Hiccup's after a few moments. I desperately needed to figure out a way to differentiate their genders. As one of the Kin, I only ever needed to get close enough to smell or look at the coloration and patterning of the scales to tell male from female.

"That's Astrid. Might be a bit upset about this morning..." Hiccup stated. I slowly backed away from him, realizing at what the other human was going to do. It stood up and I went as far away from Hiccup as I could. "Wait, where are you going?"

"I know better than to get involved in a fight that is not mine," I stated. The other human, Astrid, likely was not fully aware of what was happening but the threat of violence in its eyes told me all I needed to know. Given how unused I was to just _walking_ in my new form, I had come to question how effective I would be in a combat situation. At this point, the smart thing to do was to not get involved. "I think I should get back to learning more about boats or practicing at using my hands at any rate."

"Then what about your promise to help me?" Hiccup pleaded as its backed into the wall.

"The promise was to work with your friends," No one was sane would accept that interpretation of my pledge and by the look on its face, I can see that Hiccup was very sane indeed.

"Useless reptile…" At least this time I knew what he was saying.

"That does not apply to me right now." For once, I was glad I was human.

* * *

Sounds stirred me from my sleep. My head hurt, a lot. More so than that one time involving I had a juggling contest with Ruffnut and her brother. My left palm rubbed against my temples. My head was spinning and the world rocked back and forth. The sounds around me were incoherent, leaving me unable to identify what they were. My eyes were blurry and I could barely make out any shapes lit by the dim lights around where I was. _How did I get here?_ I wondered. I could not remember what happened last time I was awake, but I knew that whatever I had forgotten was important.

My head slowly became less clouded and I was starting to puzzle out what had happened. Most everything was brown, given the feel of the floor of which I laid upon, and the constant back and forth motion I felt, I could assume I was on a boat. I tried to look for other things, get more clues, but everything else was too dark or too blurry in my vision to see, all except one thing.

I saw the eye of a creature, one that resembled a cat's eye, but with a green iris that had a slight glow. I knew from somewhere in my memories what it belong to. If I did not act now, it was going to kill me. "Dragon!" I cried. I reached for my axe, but I could not find it. It did not matter, axe or no axe, I was a warrior and I had to defend myself. There was little time for subtly or finesse, I acted. I leapt up towards the creature my arms flailing. The creature apparently saw this and ducked away before I could have grappled it. But I still had enough time to launch a flurry of punches and kicks to separate parts of its body, which I could only make out the vague outline of. It was awfully small for a dragon, yet not too small that I could think it was a Terror.

I defeated the dragon, it fell down on the ground after only two or three blows. I congratulated myself with a small grin of satisfaction, surviving my first _real_ encounter with a dragon was something that a Viking shield maiden such as myself should be proud of. I then held the smallish dragon by the neck. I was not strong enough to pick it up off the ground but I could hold it there.

Then I heard a chuckling sound and I suddenly realized I should not have been as proud as I had been. I looked down at the creature I had dropped and it in turn looked up at me. "Ow, Astrid," it coughed in a voice I was familiar with. "Why do you feel the need keep beating me senseless?" I rubbed the weariness and drowsiness from my sight and had seen the son of the Chief looking up at me.

"Hiccup?" I said, rubbing the weariness from my eyes. I had a better view of his face now that my eyes had adjusted to the barely lit up conditions. It was deformed somehow. His left eye had…changed, becoming slightly larger and having changed color and shape since last I had seen it. Additionally, small patches of dark scale had begun to spread from the eye, almost reaching the boy's nose. In my stupor I had mistaken the boy for a dragon. And that was because I could see that he now hard a part of a dragon's face now. "What happened to your face?" I asked.

"My face, the nails on my left hand, and given how I uncomfortable my back and my left foot feel… I think parts of my body are randomly becoming more …dragony." That last word was something he invented. I noted that Hiccup was oddly calm about the fact that his hand had grown darkened claws and his face had transformed, especially given his current circumstances. I let go of his neck then and there.

His statement still completely did not answer my question. "I mean, how did this happen?" I almost considered giving him another punch or an apology; but I decided that since I had hit him for no reason at all, I would refrain from punching him for the rest of this… boat ride. _When did we get on a boat, again?_

"Uh… I don't really know either," Hiccup admitted. "I think it might have been a potion I drank."

"What potion?" I was not in the mood to chase him around verbally. I was upset. I eyed him, my voice pretending to threaten violence if he evaded the question again.

"Oh, I got this book that had a variety of dragon stuff in it… It had this potion that promised to make me… stronger, less clumsy, more what people wanted me to be. So I made it and drank before we left Berk." He admitted. "I had no idea that it involved me getting all dragon-like…" Great, just great. Once again, Hiccup started with what must have been a fantastic idea to that in the end backfired. Only this time, it seemed the boy was the victim of his own mistakes and the consequences could be the worst yet.

"Personally, I think whoever made that potion had the right idea," a new voice said. I turned and looked at the source. It was a boy, around the same age as Hiccup and I, dressed up in old, worn clothes. His hair was a mess, unkempt and uncombed. The new boy was feeling around the hull of the boat we were on, using his hands to examine the spaces between the planks. He seemed familiar, but I could not place my finger on it. "It's much better to be a dragon, one of the Kin," -The usage of the word 'Kin' confused me a bit. Was he really referring to dragons as if they were his own kind?- "even if only in a small part, than it is to be a…" -he seemed to struggle at choosing the right words- "human. In fact, do you suppose that potion might gradually transform you more into a dragon over time? If it did that, maybe return to my true self, I would down said potion in a heartbeat." _True self? What was he talking about?_

"No one asked you," Hiccup protested to the strange boy. "And yes, I was just thinking that as well. And that maybe the bolts I shot you with would fix my problem." Hiccup shot the boy? Since when? And how would they help him? "I just hope… Well, I don't become more of a dragon than I already am…" That response caused the strange boy to snort.

Then I remembered the events that happened last time I was awake. It made my head hurt slightly, understanding that I had not just experienced some fleeting dream. I must have been hit on the head harder than I thought. I suddenly felt more than justified for having attacked Hiccup in the past few minutes. It also explained why I saw that there were metal bars that kept us away from half of the ship.

Remembering the morning's events made me realize how foolish I had been in accepting Hiccup's deal. I never expected him to come so far, downing a dragon no one had ever seen, only to throw away his chance to prove he was a warrior. Even when I saw it with my own eyes, I had thought that maybe, just maybe, the boy actually had the skill to deserve to be a warrior. Instead, he set the monster free. Then to make matters worse, we had been taken captive by Outcasts and had _my_ axe stolen. It was an heirloom, passed down for generations. It was irreplaceable and I just had to throw it at a man who could catch thrown axes in mid air. About the only good thing that happened was that the stench of eel was gone from my body. We had been captured. And if I had not agreed to come with Hiccup, chances were, I wouldn't be in this mess.

"So then what stops us from doing it now and returning things to the way they should be? I do not want wish to be so… pink for much longer."

Hiccup sighed. "Well, I need to get my things back from Alvin and make our way out of here before we do anything else. Once everyone's awake, we can discuss our options."

"Good, in the mean time, I shall continue learning more about this 'boat' we are on," the strange boy said as he kept on examining the boat's hull, seemingly fascinated.

"You did not know what a boat was until thirty minutes ago," Hiccup stated.

"Correction, I knew what a boat was, I just never had a word to describe it before now… I just kept having to using different phrases like 'floating tree caves' to describe them."

I suddenly knew where I seen this boy before. I had only seen his back the previous night, but that was all I needed given that he had his back towards me. I realized at this point that boy _was _a Night Fury, somehow transformed into… one of us. And he was talking with Hiccup about boats of all things. This day was getting weirder and weirder.

"Is he the Night Fury?" I whispered to Hiccup, so low that I hopefully did not alert the strange boy. I saw him nod in response. "Is he dangerous?"

Hiccup shook his head again. "No, he's honor-bound not to attack us." I raised my eyes at that, Hiccup clearly noticed by skepticism. The dragon had a sense of honor? Where could have ever learned that? "Yes, it's not what I expected either, but we did talk about among other things.. and apparently, dragons have honor." Assuming that the dragon was not a lying. What was I thinking? Dragons are supposed to be too stupid to even come up with lies, let alone talk.

"You were talking?"

"Nothing else to do, so we ended up speaking to each other, mostly just…stuff. Like I had to explain how boats worked," Hiccup explained. "If I had the time and materials, I would have showed how books and reading and writing worked. Surprisingly, he wants to learn about those things, though that might just be because he does not know what it entails." A dragon interested in reading and writing. Even more weirdness, great. Most Vikings did not really care for _literature_, the only two Vikings on Berk who shared any sort of love for that art form were right in the same room as me. Though I appreciated being having the ability to read and write, I did not dedicate my life towards it the same way as Hiccup or Fishlegs did. And now, apparently there are dragons who are more interested in reading than most Vikings.

"I know you're talking about me over there," said the former dragon. "I believe I have been patient enough, we should wake the others while we have the chance." As he turned towards me for the first time. I noticed that the dragon seemed a bit green around his face and that his footing was rather sloppy as he approached. He was probably not used to walking on two legs, especially not in a moving ship. Thankfully, he did not look to be so sea sick that he could throw up. I did not want to have to see that. Hiccup got up from the ground and stood to meet him. I was surprised to notice that the new boy seemed slightly shorter than Hiccup, but made up for it with slightly more muscle. Overall, he seemed fairly normal. Were I to have met him without knowing the truth, I would never have guessed that he had been a dragon.

Hiccup turned to me. "I'll explain everything in just a moment… Can you wake up Fishlegs and Camicazi? I would do it myself, but I don't want to risk being bludgeoned again…"

I went over to our sleeping companions and gently tapped them awake. Fishlegs and Camicazi lifted themselves, seeing blearily at the environment. Both of them, like me locked their eyes at Hiccup's dim glowing eye. Like many animals, dragon eyes tended to glow slightly when exposed to light in dark places. I was assuming that like me, the other two had probably assumed that Hiccup was a dragon. "Don't be afraid, it's just us."

"B-but there's a dragon…" that was Fishlegs. "I can see it."

"There's no dragon." Sort of true. "It's just Hiccup."

"Hiccup, what happened to you?" Fishlegs, again. He likely now saw Hiccup's face more clearly. "Your eye is all dragony!" Strange likes apparently do think alike.

"And part of my face, the nails on my hand and probably my back and one of my feet as well." Hiccup parroted from our earlier conversation." I kind of already had this conversation with Astrid."

"Ooh, first a Night Fury turning into a boy, now we got a boy turning into a dragon." It was Camicazi's voice now, optimistic. Apparently, she had an easier time remembering than I did, which admittedly made me more jealous than I should have. "There's never a dull moment around you, Hiccup." _Trust me, I know._

"Yeah," the boy responded, clearly embarrassed at the girl's cheers. "So now that you're all awake… there's someone you I would like you all to meet." He pointed at the former dragon, who had gone unnoticed by the other two up until this point.

Hiccup exchange a glance with the newcomer, as if conveying something. "I… my name is Toothless," he said. "I am … pleased to meet you. I was the dragon Hiccup had shot down from this morning in case you had forgotten…"

His name was Toothless? What kind of name was that? I suppose it made as much sense as naming a child 'Fishlegs'. I was glad that my parents had decided not to honor Viking naming tradition. I could have ended up with an utterly ridiculous name. As if on cue, Hiccup added, "And before you ask, I was the one who named him. Apparently dragons do not receive names until they do something really note worthy and I figured for our sake he'd need one."

Fishlegs seemed to have gone pale, something that was difficult for me to see when we only had a few dim lanterns for light, though the little bit of previously unknown dragon knowledge made him seem more comfortable. Camicazi seemed simply thrilled to meet a new face, ignoring the fact that that a dragon was talking to them.

"My name is Camicazi, nice to meet you, too," she said cheerily.

"Uh…my name is Fishlegs," he said with some obvious hint of fear in voice. We all knew he was afraid of the dark. In a boat hull that was barely lit with a dragon within arm's reach, his fear was more than justified.

"I'm Astrid," I added with a directed coldness in my voice.

"Your friends seem to have mixed reactions about meeting me," said Toothless to Hiccup.

I would have interjected about stating that I was not exactly Hiccup's 'friend', but he had made his response first. "Not every day we get to a conversation with a dragon." The former dragon only nodded. "Well, anyways, I think it's clear that none of us want to be in Alvin's hands for long. Toothless is willing to lend us a hand and I think we'll need all the help we can get if we want to escape. Now does anyone have any questions."

"Why are you so trusting of a _dragon_, Hiccup?" I remember the reason Hiccup gave me last night, that he had looked into the dragon's eyes and saw a fear that _touched _him. I should have cleaved the dragon when I had the chance. "In fact, why did you try to convince Alvin to let him go?"

Toothless just stared at the boy. I imagine he has been wondering the same thing. "Because," he said, "No one, not even a dragon, should have to be held captive by _Alvin the Treacherous._ You know the stories my dad speaks about him?" I knew of only a few. Such as Alvin having sold men into slavery with a few lies or manipulating battles to suit his purposes. One man in particular who had been scored was Humongously Hotshot the Hero, at one time betrothed to Hiccup's mother. Overall, not a nice guy. And he my axe. Hiccup's response was not the answer I had been expecting, but then again, I had to admit, he did have solid principals. That still did not excuse the fact he would be helping a dragon.

Remembering Hiccup's statements earlier and realizing that they meant to return the dragon back to its 'trueself', I added, "And then you'll work to turn him back into a dragon so he can go back to blowing up our towers so they can steal our food, again."

Toothless looked offended and Hiccup seemed like he was going to respond, but Camicazi interjected "Pft, the Vikings Tribes steal and cheat each other all of the time, it's not like the dragons do anything different. Why just last week, I had stole some of Mogadon's sheep right from under his nose." Bog Burglars, the name said it all. Obsessive thieves.

"That's completely different," I protested. "Dragons are just…animals."

This time, Toothless rebuked me. "For my whole life, I had thought the Herd, you humans, were mere animals as well and now, here I am talking with you over that. At this point, I do not know what to believe any more. All I want to do now is just go home." On that, we finally had something we could agree on. Look at me, sharing sympathy with a dragon, I must have been weaker than I thought I was.

"Look, Astrid," It was Hiccup. "I know that what I am asking you to do… well, defies everything we had been taught, but well, I don't think anyone else has been in our position. _Ever._"

"Hiccup, he's a dragon," I said. "He might look human now, but in his heart, he's a dragon. It's hard to trust him knowing that. We hardly know him and everything he could have said up until now could be a finely crafted lie."

"I hardly know you either," Toothless stated, "And I find it just as hard to trust in you, but I realize I have no choice in the matter. Either I work with you and hopefully return to the Nest or I do not and rot in a horrid cell under this 'Alvin' you fear so much."

"Fishlegs," I called towards the silent boy. I needed someone to back me up and I had hoped that Fishlegs would provide me with some justification.

"Our chances definitely go up the more of us working together," he said, finally speaking.

"Fine then," I gave up. No point in continuing to argue when peer pressure convinces you otherwise. "I'll work with you, dragon, but as soon as you're done, I expect you to go elsewhere."

Toothless grunted. "I intend to."

* * *

It had been all of my fault. If I had simply done what _everyone_ had told me to do from the beginning and stayed away from hunting dragons, I would not be in this mess. Astrid, Fishlegs, and Camicazi would have been relatively safe at Fort Sinister, more than likely surviving that battle. I would probably be there helping rebuild by helping fix up the Berserker village. And Toothless would… be still a dragon, albeit a dragon who would destroy buildings, but very likely a contented dragon nonetheless. If it weren't for my desire to shoot him down, none of us would have become prisoners of Alvin the Treacherous. I _had _to set things right.

Granted, Alvin capturing us all was most definitely a result of Camicazi and I being Heirs to our Tribes. From the way Alvin went out of his way to come get us, it was clear to me that he had sought to put us for ransom. Fishlegs, Astrid, and Toothless were simply at the wrong place at the wrong time. If they had not been with Camicazi and I, they would not have been captured. Once we arrived at Outcast Island, Alvin would no doubt send messengers to my father and Bertha telling them about our capture. A ransom after all, was useless without informing the right people.

Parts of me had _changed_. More specifically, my hand had become clawed, left eye and a portion of my face around it, and given how uncomfortable my left foot and most of my back felt, I could add them to the list as well. Still did not know why those areas had changed as opposed to everywhere else, but without testing and observation, I would not know the answer. And I obviously do not want to test myself.

A less superstitious boy would have thought that things could not possibly get worse, but experience has taught me that things could indeed get much worse if given the right conditions. Right now, I considered the worst case scenario would be my dad seeing me with these newly grown scales upon my body and declaring me an exile and refusing to pay my ransom. Or worse… if Toothless had been right and that I would become more of a dragon over time. If that happened, dad would pay my ransom just so he could chop up my head before I became a traitor to my own kind. That did not bear considering.

I had figured that the potion I had brewed was the cause of my current problem as I had strange symptoms ever since I had taken it. Mostly, it was that my eyes were better at adjusting to darkness than they ever were or that I my sense of smell allowed me to perceive smells with more clarity. Other than the eel allergy, I had thought those to be mere additional benefits of the beverage that were part of the benefits. Now though, my left eye was getting far too good at seeing in the dark. If it were not for my right eye being untransformed, I would have assumed that the inside of Alvin's ship was in fact a very brightly lit room.

Granted, if the potion did make me even more of a dragon, Toothless would be pleased.

Alvin had all ours belongings, especially the book that had started this all. If I could get that, I could solve at least two of my problems or give myself more options. Maybe there was something the book that might help, but given that the only thing that worked as intended was the plan involving the eels, there was no grantee. Technically, the other two things I had drew were _wonderful successes_ that worked a little too well. After all, Toothless cannot fly or breathe fire at me anymore and I was definitely stronger. But regardless of my track record with that book so far, I needed it if I ever wanted a mere chance at returning to humanity.

So our objectives were clear. We had to escape and we had to take the book along with us. Recovering everything else was secondary, but would be a nice bonus. Unfortunately for me, I did not know enough about Outcast Island in order to make any sort of formal plan other than the primary objectives and make a few default assumptions.

There was one thing however I knew I should do before anything else happened. I tore off one of my pant legs, the one belonging to the untransformed foot, using my clawed hand to slice the fabric. It was easier than I thought it would be. Thankfully, the skin there did not seem to have changed much. "What are you doing?" Astrid commented.

"I need to hide my face from Alvin, he does not need to know that I am… changing…" Given how my _friends, _or at least people I wish I could consider my friends, reacted when they had seen my eye, there was no telling how someone like Alvin might do with me. I was hoping that Alvin had not seen it already. "So, whenever someone asks, just say that I was horribly disfigured…" I placed the pant leg over that part of my transformed face, hopefully obscuring it. I had to get used to having one eye it seemed, but anything to hide that. "Does this hide it?" Astrid nodded. I then started cutting another piece off my other pant leg to obscure my clawed hand.

"Alvin has us... We're so doomed, doomed I say." Fishlegs mumbled. "Alvin's going to chop us up and sell us back to our parents piece by piece, or worse, offer us to the Romans and we'll never get home..." Fishlegs continued to mumble on about how distressing the sitiation was. He was clearly the most terrified. Astrid did not voice her opinion, though I had a hard time believing that I was actually looking at her face with some, well, worry. She definately was doing a better job of suppressing her fears than I was, probably focusing on being mad. I must have looked like a raving lunatic.

"Not how I was expecting how the outing would go, but first time someone went out of his way to kidnap me when I have done nothing to them. Usually, they capture me when I fail to steal their belongings." Camicazi said. I heard enough about Camicazi enough to know she did not value being kidnapped the same way anyone else did.

I was scared of Alvin, really, I was. But I knew that panicking would not help us in the least. Though I did want to scream and shout to the heavens right now at whatever god decided my fate to be captured by Alvin. "Fishlegs, calm down, you'e making me nervous."

"...We're doomed," he squealled. "Alvin's got us and you're... changing! Things are looking grim."

"I know, I know." And it was my fault to begin with. "Fish, just calm down. We can through this." _As long as I keep saying that, it should come true, right?_

"Hiccup, you got turned into part dragon, shouldn't you be worried?" Fishlegs remaked. I was worried, very very worried. I still knew next to nothing about it and I had no real way to solve it.

"Keep it down Fishlegs, I'm worried about it, I just can't do anything about it yet, I need my book back from Alvin I can do anything about it. No sense worring about it too much when I can't do anything right?" I told him, feigning as much confidence as I could. Or maybe it was more to myself. Afterall, this situation was very grim.

"And Alvin..."

"Can be dealt with. We just need to keep calm and come up with a plan." This caused Fishlegs to momentarily back away, his lips quivering with anxiety, I did not blame him.

"So then, what's our plan Hiccup?" Camicazi chimed in. "You always seem have a plan."

"I'm still thinking, but whatever we do, we need to get our things back, especially our books and research notes. No telling what Alvin would do with knowledge like that." I just hoped that said Outcast might have been illiterate. It was not uncommon, especially in this day and age outside of Rome. And really only those born into wealth or privilege like me and most of those who I tried to associate with had anything to do with reading. Granted, the twins failed that class. "For now, we should work to pool as much information as possible once we arrive so we can plan our escape."

"Wait," Fishlegs spoke out, which surprised me. "We're not going to do the less reckless thing and not wait for your dad and to come rescue us with the fleet."

"Not going to happen," I replied, then turned to Toothless to make my point clear. "On count of someone having destroyed a sizable portion of the fleet." The boy blushed a faint red. "Say, why did you go after our boats and not say every other target like your _Kin_ did?" I used his word to describe dragons.

"My King ord…" Dragons had a King? As in royalty? That was intriguing. I would be not lying if I said that I had learned more about dragons in just today alone than I had in my the rest of my life. Toothless attempted to hide his slip of the tongue. "I was ordered to sink the boats without being told why, honest." Best not to push him about that, if the dragons had a King, it was not important to us right now. And why the dragons wanted the boats destroyed likely had little impact on our current situation anyways.

"I believe you," I replied dryly. "So anyways, every Tribe that was at Fort Sinister has had their a sizable chunk of their ships destroyed, meaning that unless my dad or Betha calls up some other tribe with a working fleet, we are not going to be rescued. At best, we will either be ransomed back to our homes or we escape. If we get ransomed back, we might not get our things back, which is important as I need that book in order to fix this mess. So we work on escaping." There was also no grantee that my father would be able to pay for not only Astrid and Fishlegs, but Toothless as well. I had no idea of just how much my father would be receiving from Oswald, especially with most of their village being in ruins.

"And how do you intend to do that?" Astrid commented. I did not know the answer to that yet.

"We need to learn more about Outcast Island first."

"While trapped in a cell," Astrid had a point. Alvin, I heard, was smart enough not to let very important prisoners from wandering around his island, where they could get ideas.

"We don't have to be trapped in a cell," provided Camicazi. _What does she mean by that? _Before I could ask she added. "Alvin may have taken us captives and _tried _to take all of our things." She emphasized the word _tried _enough for me to understand what she had meant.

"You have lock picks," I said, she nodded as she pulled out several hairpins from, well, her hair. For someone who had very wild hair, she did seem to have an awful lot of hair pins. That was just perfect. We now had a means to escape from our cells as we needed, provided the locks were standard and were something we could pull open.

"You can't keep a Bog Burglar under lock and key," the girl taunted. I was glad she had followed us now. It provided us with more options. "So why don't we just use these lockpicks to escape?"

"Because, that'd get us out of our cells, but not off the island," I added. "Okay, so maybe you can sneak in out of our cells every night so you can gather some information, lay the foundation for our various things that needed to be done. Things of that nature." She nodded again, a mischievous smile on her face.

"People will notice she's missing you know," Astrid commented.

I simply gave a smile, I already had ideas of how to deal with that, though I needed more time and resources to think that out first. With any luck, Alvin would make a mistake and decide to stick us together, rather than apart. It would be much easier to do our planning and conversation while in the same jail cell. "I'm working on that."

"Perhaps if Alvin had captive dragons…" Toothless said. "Maybe they would aid us." Astrid looked more than bit upset, but did not act upon it. She was still suspicious of him after all.

"Maybe we could strike a deal with them…" Toothless said. "A simple bargain would not be too hard to make."

"Assuming we find dragons on Outcast Island," I replied. "How are we going to communicate with them?"

"We're speaking right now…" Toothless commented, before realization had likely hit him. "Though you are right, there is no grantee they could understand me."

Before we could discuss more about our escape, an Outcast had stepped forth below the deck. The bright light of an afternoon sun stung my eyes a bit before they adjusted. I wished for but a moment that the sun light would stay around much longer. I might have only been held captive for what was, at most, a few hours, but it felt like a brief eternity in darkness.

Behind the first Outcast was a second and then a third. As they stepped into the darkness, I had a better look at what they were carrying. None of them were Alvin, thank Odin. Each of them, except for which held various black strips of cloth, the men held swords in their hands. "We've arrived at Outcast Island, put these on and we'll escort you to your new cell." The cloths were blindfolds, Alvin was wise not to let us learn where we were going. We did as we were told, knowing that facing a crew of what was at least forty warriors without weapons would get us all killed. I had to help Toothless as he was still not coordinated with his hands to tie the knot himself. "Wait, what's that on your face?" said the man, pointing at my 'eye patch'.

"Alvin horrifically disfigured me… I do not want people looking at it," was my excuse.

"Really?" the man said. "Serves you right you weak Hooligans, best thing I ever did was leave your Tribe..." I blinked. The Outcast in front of me was a former Hairy Hooligan? Then I realized that Outcasts are not a traditional Viking Tribe by any means. They were made up solely of men and women who were cast out of their Tribes by breaking the laws. Hence their name, Outcasts. Given the odds, it was likely I'd run into former Hair Hooligans eventually. "Now put it on!" he yelled at me, which I swiftly complied.

I had no idea how much we walked, it felt far. My partially transformed foot made the walk more cumbersome than normal and Toothless stumbled several times, earning him several beatings during the trip. Other than that, the travel was completely uneventful as we were guided down twisting hallways and expanses by our Outcast escorts. Alvin had not seen fit to lead us himself or show himself too us.

Before long, we were in our new cell, some large hole that had been dug up and barred off with crudely assembled wooden branches. Thankfully, Alvin had seen fit to keep us all trapped in the same cage. Unfortunately, Alvin had the foresight to both keep our new cell under constant super vision, via a pair of guards checked in every fifteen minutes. This made my plan of using Camicazi to spy for us that much harder. At the very least, the Outcasts had given us slightly better lighting, which was especially good for Fishlegs's sake.

After removing our blindfolds, the men had escorted us had decided it was the best time for lunch or breakfast, depending on how you looked at it. Unfortunately for Toothless and I, the meal was cooked eel. "Do they mean to kill us?" asked Toothless. "I do not want to receive indigestion."

"Eels cause dragons indigestion?" Fishlegs said, for the first time speaking with the dragon. Camicazi and Astrid were too busy playing a silent game of I-Spy, which in actuality was the pretext for a more serious game involving actual spy work. They were getting ready for when I would set my plan into motion.

"Some," Toothless admitted. "I think they have some sort of poison in them that causes it, I do not know. Also causes your throat to catch on fire. As a result, we all have an instinctive hatred and fear of them…." I looked at the partially burned eel. While I did not necessarily like eels before now, I did not get outright unnerved at the very presence of them. Now that I realized that that burning sensation I felt when Astrid forced that eel into my mouth was common to dragons, it was very likely I had been… changing ever since I had taken the potion.

"That would explain Hiccup's plan when … we shot you down." Fishlegs continued. I saw him take a bite out of the eel, this caused Toothless to turn slightly green again. But to his surprise, the large boy did not vomit up his stomach's contents. "We threw eels at every dragon we could to fight our way to get you."

"I will admit, that was very cunning, using our own fear against us in such a manner," Toothless said. He eyed the eels more closely now. "And to down one such as me was no easy feat. Tell me, is Hiccup a great warrior amongst your Kin?"

I felt embarrassed to say the least. "No, I am not," I stated. "In fact, many would say that I was the worst my village had to offer. Some say I even caused more damage to Berk than you dragons ever did." Somehow, it felt rather humorous to laugh at my own failures, even if several of them involved burning down houses. About the only people who liked me consistently were the small home repair Vikings.

"Yet you downed me!" Toothless exclaimed. Somehow, I got the feeling that the knowledge I was a horrid Viking upset him immensely. "Surely you could not be all that bad." There was something rather odd about a dragon deciding to provide me morale support.

"Toothless, I kept trying to shoot you down for at least four years, I just got lucky…"

"Well, no, you have not been trying to shoot me. I have only been participating in raids since the past month." That was odd, then again, I remembered that there was a second Night Fury involved in the raid at Fort Sinister. And well, now that I thought about it, Toothless did look like that had he been human would easily have been in one of Gobber's Dragon Training classes, perhaps even as one of my classmates…

"Really? So who have I been trying to shoot down." At this point Toothless bent down to eat his eel, perhaps deciding that maybe it would have been a good idea to try new things. The boy was about to use his jaw to scoop the eel into his throat, but then realized that he should have used his hand instead. However, he lacked human table manners and put the whole thing into his jaw and started chewing.

"My mother," he said between chews. The conversation had gotten awkward.

"I'm sorry for that then," I apologized.

Toothless chewed on the eel, seemingly enjoying the dish far more than he should have. In a moment, it was done and swallowed. "Don't be, I would not weep for her the day when she falls in battle." He seemed surprisingly cold when he said that. Did he have some sort of familial troubles? I decided that that was his problem and did not concern me. "You going to finish that?" he said as he pointed towards the untouched eel that was on my plate. Even though I was hungry, that urging at the back of my head made it clear to me that I should not put the eel into my mouth. I pushed the tray towards him and Toothless repeated his 'eating'.

"If this was a dream, I would really like to wake up now," Fishlegs commented. I believe everyone shared his sentiments.

* * *

I had awoken, realizing the events of the previous day were not a dream. I had become one of the Herd, a human, a term I had not even known about since my transformation. I had eaten _two _of the accursed eels and enjoyed it. I had spoken to humans, conversed with them over the most trivial of things, even swearing an oath to aid one of them. I had a name.

I looked at my now pink _hands_. They were not paws, they lacked claws and were far more nimble than what I had spent my whole life using. I realized that though I had sworn an oath to aid Hiccup, I did not know what I was capable of. As a dragon, as one of the Kin, I reminded myself, I had the Breath to level buildings and ships alike. I had the black scales that shielded me in the night sky. I had wings, making me the greatest flier amongst my Kin. As human, I had none of those things. I was useless.

I searched around for Hiccup, but found myself unable. Everyone else seemed to be awake, looking out at the hallway. I turned and say that my ally had been taken by those Outcast warriors who had taken us to this new cage the previous day. "Hiccup!" I yelled.

It turned and looked at me. "Don't worry, I'll be fine!" and with that Hiccup was gone.

I slumped back onto the ground, frowning. Hiccup had been taken for what purpose, I did not know, but it ultimately unsettled me. I turned to Fishlegs and Camicazi, who seemed to be more amiable me than Astrid. "What do we do?"

Fishlegs replied to me first, looking far more depressed than anything. "We wait."

"Or we can play a game!" cheered Camicazi.

A game sounded interesting, though I failed to see what could be done while we were in a cage. "What kind of game?"

"Spin the bottle of course," the excited blonde furred one said. I looked at the 'bottle' intently.

"Where did you get that?" Astrid involved herself.

Fishlegs and Camicazi looked at the cage we were in and found that the hallway was empty. "Guy stole it from the guard who was supposed to watch us last night. Guy got drunk and she decided to practice picking the lock."

"Aye," Camicazi said. "So anyways if the bottle points at you, you have to say an embarrassing secret!"

Suddenly, I realized what the game was. "Oh, that sort of game?" Amongst the young Kin, there was a similar game, but it involved a piece of driftwood or ice or rock in place of the bottle. And I figured that if it was anything like the game I was familiar with it was one of those games that had utterly ridiculous challenges of some sort. Granted, I do not recall any game where my only option was to tell a secret of some sort. Especially not an embarrassing one. Though, it might have been that normal challenges would be impossible given the current situation. "I suppose I could participate."

Astrid eyed me, her eyes looked heavy from a lack of sleep. Something last night might have unsettled her. "I'll join, too," Astrid stated.

Camicazi set the bottle on the ground and spun it. All of us hoped that were not the victim. Slowly, the bottle began to lose momentum and grinded to a halt. The bottle pointed at Fishlegs and it looked rather terrified. I smirked, knowing the feeling, but reveling it for this was all in good fun. "Alright, I…" Fishlegs stammered. "I wish I had a pet, wait, no friend, well, maybe girlfriend." He, (since I finally had a term that hopefully helped clarify what gender he was, girlfriend did imply that he was well, a he) clearly felt embarrassed, despite his secret seemingly nothing being all that special or unique.

"Ooh, that's a good one!" Camicazi spun the bottle again, again landing on Fishlegs.

"Oh come on!" Fishlegs yelled.

"Hey," Astrid commented, for the first time I had seen it, genuinely laughing. "Those are the rules, you have to follow them."

"Fine," Fishlegs continued. "Before Hiccup became all dragony… I was thinking of making his potion and drinking it for myself."

"Why?" Astrid asked. "You're plenty strong." Honestly, as the biggest, Fishlegs did look like he could probably crush my head a variety of different ways now. Except if it were not for the fact that he seemed very timid about things, especially the darkness.

"Well, I don't know," Fishlegs said. "But maybe, you know, I'd be more confident with it…" Camicazi spun the bottle yet again, and again it landed on Fishlegs. "This game is rigged!" We all just laughed at this._ He is so unlucky._

"Fine, fine, don't be such a baby," Camicazi said, spinning the bottle only for it to land on Astrid.

Astrid sat there for a moment, clearly thinking about what it had wanted to say. I relished the at the thought of what truly embarrassing or humiliating thoughts came from the one who held such scorn for me. "Okay, after seeing Hiccup, I got to wondering… what if he became…all dragon?" she held some concern in her voice, clearly this was important to her.

I chose not to answer, but if I did, I would reply with, "And then I would teach him flying just as he taught me walking." After all, I did manage to accrue a sort of debt to him for his _lessons._ Honor demanded that I pay those debts, eventually.

"Was it a nightmare?" Fishlegs said, concerned. "I mean, we don't know if Hiccup will go… all dragon yet, right?"

"It's a dream, Fishlegs, I don't know if it would really happen," Astrid said. "I saw him enjoy it… Flying, breathing fire, just being a dragon… and then. He offered us a chance to join him… and we all did." Astrid's dream brought up an interesting question. What if I also requested others to come follow me back into being a dragon?

"Ooh, what did I turn into?" Camicazi asked. "If I turned, I would like to be a Changewing. They can go invisible!"

Astrid seemed like she was regretting sharing her dream. "Forget I said anything then," Astrid said.

"Fine, moving right along!" Camicazi spun the bottle again. This time, it was me.

I was prepared. I had spent all of the past day not knowing whether or not everyone around me was male or female. I could not smell the chemical signatures with my duller nose and the clothing everyone wore made it difficult for me to check. Then again, I had never seen a human without clothes before and had never so much as been this close to humans in general. And well, asking Kin for personal information such as this was not something I would stoop myself down to without a good excuse. I had to assume that is something that also applied to the humans, considering how much overlapped between our two difference species. Now was the excuse I needed. "I cannot tell human males and females apart, this includes all of you".

Hiccup's friends all laughed, even Astrid. Shortly after they stopped laughing, they informed me that Camicazi and Astrid were females, Fishlegs and Hiccup were male, and the very basics of what clothing and parts of the physical appearance determined sex. Such as beards and mustaches were usually on adult men. Apparently, some women grew thick beards. It was… really embarrassing to say the least.

Camicazi did not spin the bottle this time. "This time I think I'll volunteer to go, anyone else mind?" I nodded. Everyone along with me. I wondered what Camicazi has seen fit to share with us. After all everyone else went, Fishlegs went twice. There was no harm in one of us breaking the rules just a little bit."So… Toothless," She was referring to me. " I think that you do not look half bad for a dragon…"

Everyone else, including me, had their jaws drop in surprise. I was being flirted upon by one of the _Herd_. Then Camicazi just laughed. "Ha! I got you all! You should have seen the look on your faces!"

"You lied!" I coughed.

"No, you all just decided to leap to the romantic conclusion," the girl stated.

Astrid called her out, willing even to work alongside me.. "That's not an embarrassing secret."

"It was embarrassing, for you." Camicazi smirked. "I will admit though, you look pretty good, for a dragon that is." I hoped that was all she thought about me. Besides, we would be incompatible anyways. I was a dragon, she a human.

* * *

I have decided I hated the Outcasts. Their cages were too full. Full of captives, prisoners, and slaves. Human and dragon alike. All sharing the same brand, the Outcast crest denoting them as property not people. They were based on the ancient slavemarks, though customized and labeling the ones who had placed them into slavery. The only thing that stopped Alvin from branding me and my friends was that we were still too useful unmarked. _But for how long? How long would we be freemen?_

As I was escorted by Outcast guards towards what I assumed was to be Alvin's main headquarters, I realized that in these cages, in this prison, that humankind and dragonkind were more than equal. Equal in bondage, equal in suffering. And having spoken to Toothless, I wondered if other dragons were like him. If they were intelligent, capable of honor, learning, being in a sense, human. If that was true, then they truly were equal here. Equally tragic. Maybe this sudden empathy into a different species had been the result of the fact that I was in the process of changing mine, but somehow, I doubted that.

My chest felt… scalier in various places. It seemed that my changes had a random pattern and progression. I could not pin point what determined what areas of me changed yet, but I had felt that overall, I had changed slightly less today than I had yesterday. When I had the chance, I had Fishlegs check my back and I had examined my left foot. Sure enough, both areas were developing a light coating of black scale, with my toe nails sharpening and twisting into claws. Still, I did not have to worry about adding more coverings to hide my transformation, as my clothes hid them well enough.

Traveling the twisted and likely deliberately confusing tunnels of the Outcast settlement had taken sooner than I had thought. It had been far too confusing for me to have completely put it down to memory, but I felt that I at least learned the very basics. Though that would not save my life if it came down to it.

I arrived inside a locked room, another dug out area. It appeared to be a workshop of some sort, buried deep underground. The guards left me inside, alone. With Alvin. He seemed delighted to see me. "Hello, Alvin," I said, trying to hide emotion.

"I'm sure you're father's told you plenty about your island's most feared enemy." My dad did in fact tell me countless stories about Alvin and his cruelty and viciousness, but I did not want him to know that. Alvin wanted to scare me to make me easier for him to manipulate, which was why he had left me alone with him. But I knew I needed control. I did not want to show him any fear. If I did, I knew I was as good as dead.

"Wh-who's that? Oh, right, uh, you. No. Not so much." I lied.

"Really? Not a word?" The man seemed genuinely surprised. Key word is 'seemed', I could not take any chances in assuming he had been genuine or not.

"Nope." I said flatly. That seemed to shut the man up while he thought of how he was going to handle things.

"So, what's that about your eye?"

"Oh that?" I pointed to my eye patch. "You disfigured my face when we first met." I said in the most nonthreatening tone I could manage. "Vikings lose body parts and limbs all of the time, so it's no big deal." Alvin seemed to convinced, though I could still imagine he was trying to hide his skepticism. "So, Al," I tried to feign respect for him. "What have you brought me here for?"

"I heard you were a different," said Alvin. That did not sound all too good for my sake. "And now I had seen it." Alvin threw down one of my notebooks onto a table. He opened it, flipping through the various pages, each of them listing some sort of various technological device that only ended in failure when I tested it. "You're a genius," he said, "A clever genius, as if you were taking lessons from Loki himself." _Great, just great, the one time I have someone appreciate my inventions, it's Alvin the Trecherous. I really hope you're happy, Odin._

It rattled me more than any death threat Alvin could have thought up, but I felt I could use that to my advantage. All I had to do was omit that every one of those devices was a failure. "Yeah, that's all my designs, maybe some influence from Rome and Greece, but mostly my making."

"And you also practice sorcery," Alvin stated, showing me the black scaled book that got me into this mess in the first place. I now realized why Alvin had brought me here. And that he may have changed his mind about keeping me his hostage for a mere ransom alone. "How could I have missed an important detail like that?"

"And you could use a genius sorcerer like me." This caused the man to grin.

Before I could state my refusal, Alvin continued. "Exactly. And before you could say no, allow me to make you an offer. I know that Bertha will want to get her daughters back and will pay any price to do so… " He must have meant Astrid and Camicazi. And in fairness to Alvin, they did look so alike that I could say they were twins if I did not know better. "But those boys on the otherhand, I know they aren't Heirs, I know Stoic would not lift a finger to save their lives." _But I would._ "I don't know who they are, but you clearly care about them. So I'll make you an offer, work for me, or I feed them this!" Alvin lifted a large cooking pot onto the table, inscribed with various runes and arcane symbols. He opened the lid and a foul stench came bubbling out of the cauldron.

"What is that?" I exclaimed. I pinched my nose. The liquid inside was green and foul looking.

"Tried brewing that strength potion recipe in that book, didn't work. Even though, I followed all of the directions." I blinked. This potion was different, it looked well, like a mix of various foul ingredients instead of the molten metal I had brewed the night before I left Berk.

"Yeah, the strength potion is a bit of a failure," I partially lied, partially told the truth. "How do you know it was a failure?"

"Oh I tested it out on some of the slaves." Alvin pointed me to a corner in the back of the room. There I saw the ambiguous shapes of three bodies covered under sheets. It seems Alvin was smarter than I had been and decided not to test the potion for himself. "Just the old and infirm, hoped to get some more mileage out of them before they died anyways. Their deaths were quite painful." And I did not fail to misunderstand the subtext of: "Your friends will die that way, too, if you do not work for me."

So I decided to use this opportunity to my advantage. "Alright, Alvin, I'll give you what you want."

"Excellent."

I was not done yet, I needed to ensure the deck was stacked into my favor before I decided on what plans I would have. "But first, I'm going to need my friends you want to kill so badly."

"For what reason, do you need your friends?" Alvin was right to be skeptical.

"Oh, nothing, I just need my assistants," I lied. Technically, Fishlegs was in a way my assistant, but I wanted to make Toothless as combat able as he needed to. Whatever escape plan I was going to have, violence might be required. So I resolved "I cannot do work without them."

"And why would you not use one of my Outcasts?"

"Would you trust your Outcasts with such… delicate work?" This time, my excuse was legitimate.

"Uh," Alvin stammered. "You do bring up a good point. But only one of them and none of the Bog Burglars." Not having access to Camicazi or Astrid for this purpose was fine, I knew both of them were combat capable already. I only needed to work with Fishlegs because he at least knew most of the stuff I would be talk about and Toothless because he was still not used to his body.

"I need both of them, just let me alternate between the two of them and I should be fine."

"Fine," Alvin seemed to have gotten tired of negotiating with me. Which was fine by me, I had everything I needed. The Outcast Chieftain had given me the means I would need to escape, willingly.

I wondered for a moment that though Alvin had been called 'the Treacherous', how many times had he been the victim of treachery?

* * *

**This chapter took me forever to decide what I wanted to write about. At the end, I realized that because I only had boats to work with, I decided why not make a large part of the chapter deal with boats. Did some basic research to figure out how Viking longboats were made and decided to show a bit of what I learned.**

**The spin the bottle thing and the various ship tease involved in this chapter are not meant to be taken seriously. Shipping is not something I normally partake in, but I felt that teasing about it, making allusions, and so forth would be good fodder for funny moments.**

**Also, I decided that Toothless did not know anyone's gender was due in part a result of well… logic. As a dragon, the anatomy he is used to understanding is completely different from what we have as humans. Hindering his understanding further is everyone's clothes. The only thing he is sure of is that he is a he. So I decided to make a small joke out of it.**

**Alvin, I decided for all of his cunning and well cleverness, is still very prone to underestimating his enemy. Especially when said enemy is a child relatively speaking. And well, pride before the fall. Hopefully, I portrayed him correctly or at least close as I could to what he is depicted as.**

**Also, someone do me a favor and write me a transformation fic that does not involve Hiccup or Toothless being transformed. There is an appalling lack of transformation fics centered on the other characters and other species of dragon. Just imagine the sort of **_**relationship**_** Fishlegs and Meatlug would have when they are the same species. The confusion of the twins suddenly having to share a body or alternatively Barf and Belch having their own separate bodies for once in their lives. And the discussions Snotlout and Hookfang would have would be priceless given their weird relationship. Only one I ever seen had Stoic of all people turn into a Terror and that was a very long time ago.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: Dreamworks and Cressida Cowell own the How to Train Your Dragon franchise. **

**Thinking about starting a forum to provide feedback more effectively and to form a social group for this. Anyone think this may be a good idea? Or maybe if there are other options. I think I need to start making a place where I can start explaining the little details I place in my story, specifically on the parts that few might not notice or really pay attention to.**

**Editted Oct 20, 2013, as a result of some issues I overlooked but pointed at to me by a reveiwer. As result, I have edited chapters 4 and 5 slightly to address issues that I had made. Core details are the same, but I felt I needed to add details addressing the issues I failed to notice when writing the chapters the first time.**

* * *

I was alone. No matter how much I tried to think about it, I was alone. I stood on the top deck, looking at the sunlight reflect beautifully amidst the waves. The skies were as clear as the day we had set out on this mad voyage. If I was not mourning the disappearance of my son, I would have blessed Freya for the light. Instead, I was moping. I had wanted this trip to last longer, to give my son more time to prepare for the oncoming raid. I would have showed him the proper way to hold a sword, the ways he could use a shield to fight, the various tricks to beat a dragon senseless. He would have been at my side, doing glorious battle against our eternal enemies.

This time, I had made it a point to chase after that monster, in the hopes that my son would repeat his previous attempts. This time, I resolved myself to help him in any way I could. This time, we would finally have something to talk about. What greater joy than a father could have to share his finest hour with his son?

Instead he wasn't. It was only after the battle had I learned that there two of the accursed beasts and that my son had decided to chase after the other one off in the other side of Fort Sinister. The last anyone had seen of him, he had gotten the mad idea to throw eels at dragons to scare them off while charging into an existing fight with half of his class and a Bog Burglar. _And it worked._ _As if Loki had decided to favor such insanity._

That had been the last anyone had seen of my boy. He along with his friends had seemingly disappeared completely. Nothing remained of them except for the extra clothes they stored in their rooms. I feared that they might have died. No one knew what had happened to them. I feared that they might have died, burned away to a mere cinder beyond recognition. I prayed to Odin, the greatest of fathers, that he was alive. A sign, a symbol proving he was alive. I did not want to spend hours on end, hoping and praying for a loved one to return, not again.

But now, I had to set sail for home, without my son. For three days since the battle, I had searched tirelessly for Hiccup, but found no clues as to his whereabouts. On the third day, Oswald had requested we leave, as the contract for hospitality had expired and the Chief had refused to renew it. _For our own good_.

Unfortunately, with most of our ships lost, the five surviving craft would have to make return trips. I was to lead the first evacuation, again at Oswald's request. About the only thing that prevented this trip from being a total failure was that the Berserkers were true to their word and gave much in food as was promised. I doubted I would see Oswald again.

"You're worried about _him_, aren't you?" said a voice behind me. I turned and found Snotlout, my nephew, looking in much the same sorry state I did. "I'm worried about _her_." He was referring to that Hofferson girl, the one nearly _every _boy my son's age had a crush on.

"I'm sure she's fine," I lied.

"She went with Hiccup, when Thuggory separated us. I should have gone with them, maybe I could have stopped them from… disappearing."

"Or just maybe, your class would be just down to the twins…" I did not necessarily dislike the Thorson twins, Tuffnut and Ruffnut, but I was unwilling to teach a class that consisted solely of them. Granted, Gobber would likely be taking over for me if I decided to set sailing to find the Nest and more importantly my son.

"I still should have been there." Why was he so depressed? It was… odd to see the boy who in many ways was the ideal Viking reduced to moping. Then again, with the Hofferson girl and most of his class missing…

I asked him breaking from that train of thought. "What stopped you?"

"I wanted to down the Night Fury before Hiccup did." So a case of the typical rivalry, yet again. I swear everything that happened between both of those boys seems to have started since they were five.

"No one man has ever bested a Night Fury," I said. "Or even a group of men. Wouldn't it have been better to work together?"

"We kind of.. .got in to a fight," I flinched at that, hoping that Snotlout did not do any lasting harm to my son or having been the reason for disappearance. The boy did not seem to have been proud to say this. "Hiccup punched me so hard he made my nose bleed…" That surprised me.A nose bleed in itself is not very hard to inflict, if you were a strong enough Viking. But for one such as Hiccup, that was… difficult. "I know, that surprised me, too. And well, I got upset at him and almost hit him back… then Astrid asked me to stop and well, Thuggory took us… and you know the rest."

"Son, whatever happened is not your fault." _Because it was mine_. I _should have been wiser. _"You could not have possibly known that they would disappear."

"I guess you're right." He looked out thoughtfully out at the sea. "Chief Stoic. May I ask a favor?"

I did not like the sound of that. While it was all noble and honorable to keeping promises, sometimes, it is best not to get involved with them. But it was only fair that I listen to requests, before denying them. After all, it could have been something trivial. If only it was ever that simple. "What would that be?"

"I want to save Astrid," he said, I knew where this was heading. Hopefully he was not motivated by some selfish rescuer's fantasy. I seen many man destroy himself both before, during, _and after_ perusing such selfish desires. "And… I guess maybe Hiccup and Fishlegs..." At least he remembered to mention my son and his friend, so that was an improvement.

"No," I answered before letting him finish his request. "We still don't know where they are and even if we did, I do not think it would be bring you along."

"Why not?"

I sighed and took a drink from a bottle of mead. I had to be honest with the boy, no matter how much it hurt him. For all of Snotlout's pomp and attitude, I knew he had in many ways less confidence in himself than my son had in himself and _that_ was saying something. The boy tended to crack under doubt and was surprisingly easy to intimidate. I blamed my brother for that. "Snotlout," I began. "If we do find them, you have to let the warriors handle it."

"But I am a warrior now!" he insisted. One battle did not make someone an actual warrior. It was fighting and enduring hardships that toughened the core of a man into steel. It was years of practice and experience that tempered the edge. A warrior is not a boy willing to fight enemies for the sake of a loved one, though a boy who fought for love could definitely be a warrior.

"Warrior-in-training," I corrected. "Class is still not dismissed. You're not fully trained. You've got the mindset and the talent, but not the experience or the knowledge. You rely too much on your brawn and not enough on your brain." While it is true Vikings were not the most intellectual people, there were still standards. There was a reason why Dogsbreath the Duhbrain, the stupidest Viking on Berk was not allowed to go into dragon training.

Snotlout's face turned into a frown, his expression showing shock. I had just given him the exact opposite of the criticism everyone had on Hiccup after all. He recollected himself in a moment. "I do use my head!" he protested.

"I don't see you use it much other than for headbutting. My point is that you're not going to help us by joining, not if you don't show us you can do more than just punching really hard."

"Then what can I do to prove myself then?" he said, clearly seeing a challenge. I realized my poor word choice made it seem like he had a chance.

"I don't know." I admitted. "Do something smart enough and maybe I could let you join in."

"And what would that be?"

"Well, part of the challenge is having to be smart enough to figure out what is considered smart in the first place." Admittedly, I was dodging the question, but well, I doubted Snotlout could ever come up with something that would qualify. It just was not his preferences.

At that point, Snotlout decided to leave me. I saw him go towards the twins, Ruffnut and Tuffnut, and they began discussing something that interested them. Hopefully they wasn't thinking of doing something mad. _What am I thinking, of course they would do something mad._ Now that I thought about it, maybe madness runs in the family.

* * *

"I hate this plan of yours," said Fishlegs to me. I could not blame him, especially since I seen the amount of ways this idea could backfire a mile away. All it would take is Alvin to notice that Camicazi was outside of our cage and that I had decided to consume more resources than I should for designing an experimental crossbow. If Alvin noticed that, we were all dead.

"I agree," I said as I held up and balanced a freshly made yesterday crossbow. I had spent much of yesterday building it myself as a test of my own skill towards Alvin. It was rushed and though it was perfectly a serviceable weapon, it was a prototype for the intended goal. "But we don't exactly have a choice do we."

For someone who was known to be very deceitful, Alvin was surprisingly easy to fool… At least, assuming this was not a layer of deception in of itself. _Let's not go down that road…_ I had remind myself not to get too paranoid that it was unhealthy. _Because we all know it is healthy to be at least somewhat paranoid. _Yesterday, I had gotten most of everything I needed from the Outcast Chief, but my stay in his workshop had other stipulations I had to endure.

First off, if I needed things for any projects, I had to request it from Alvin, limiting my resources severely. Second, I would not be allowed to have access to the strange book I received without supervision, as Alvin believed it to be too dangerous to allow a sorcerer (which I was not, but Alvin thought I was anyways) access to that kind of books.

Additionally, there was to be a guard positioned outside the workshop at most times of the day. Far away enough from the door that he can't over hear us talking, but enough to prevent us from leaving the room without escorts; me and my guest for today, Fishlegs, would be confined in this place until we would be escorted back to our cell. Tomorrow, it would be Toothless's turn.

After the agreement I struck with Alvin, I was hauled back towards the jail cell where the others waited for my return. Admittedly, I was surprised to find them playing that ridiculous game with a stole mead bottle. More surprising was that I learned that Toothless used this opportunity to acquire more knowledge about human customs and practices. During that game, he managed to learn to distinguish human genders, learn the function of clothing and what 'modesty' was, and figured out what that pot that we kept around the room was for. I would be lying if I said that I did not know how they were related.

When I had been sent back, I had gone over the basic tenants of my plan, only going over the overall idea and general goals yet again, but with the added information given from the preliminary scouting of Camicazi and my own observations. Before I had seen the other captives the Outcasts held, I was perfectly willing and able to abandon them when we made our escape. After however, I knew that my conscience would not let me leave them here. So now, whatever plan I decided on, it had to include them somehow, to the displeasure of others. Especially Toothless, though I had no idea why.

"You're promising Alvin weapons!"

"Several actually," I corrected. "It's only crossbows, for now… And besides, I'm not going to be building him anything until after I am done perfecting the design. Which I intend to take quite a while…"

"He could use those weapons to conquer the whole Archipelago."

"Fishlegs, you're being unrealistic. And besides, I'm just one guy, I don't think a few fancy crossbows is going to make up for the logistical problems of the Outcasts. There's not enough Outcasts to take over a whole village for very long, let alone the whole Archipelago." The Outcast Tribe for, or perhaps because of, all of its ruthlessness is one of the smallest Viking Tribes. Few people are actually born here, most are well outcasts from all the other Tribes. They were numerous enough to hold their own in a war against the other tribes, but in the end, they were not really all that powerful. Fights with them were less actual battles and more the Outcasts staging hit and run attacks at weak points. Their primary weapons were fear, not numbers.

"A crossbow capable of iterative attacks is pretty deadly." Fishlegs referring to the primary project Alvin had tasked me, which had been my primary goal from the beginning. Crossbows, which powerful had the weakness of having a long interval between shots in comparison to using a traditional longbow. One of my 'kill that Night Fury' plans had been to create a crossbow that could shoot much faster than normal. I just never got around to building a repeating crossbow until now.

"The arrows lose power because of weaker draw strength, you'd have to poison them to make them equally as deadly as a regular arrow. On top of that, they have a much shorter maximum range capping out at one hundred and twenty meters." The downside to the design was that it was not lethal enough especially without things like poison to add more killing potential.

"And you're trying to remove their penalties to attack," Fishlegs complained.

"Yes, but at the cost of dropping capacity and increasing the shot intervals." For every design choice, there is a cost to employing it. While the prototype design called for shooting more arrows in quick succession at a rate of about ten arrows in fifteen seconds, I decided changing the mechanisms around to raising the power at the cost of speed would have been better given the world which I lived in. The goal would be to cut the shooting rate by half, but at least tripling the draw strength, making it somewhat closer to a more traditional crossbow, but with easier reloading ability.

After having spent enough time inspecting it, I handed Fishlegs my crossbow. He frowned, but accepted it anyways. "I really question the merit of handing _me _of all people your weapon."

"If I can get you to use it properly, I can get anyone." I proclaimed. And I needed to do some bug testing. Fishlegs was a lousy archer, but a crossbow is a much different weapon than a bow. For all of its elegant simplicity, a bow is a weapon that is very difficult to learn and master, while a crossbow was while more expensive and complex, it was much easier to learn and fire a crossbow. According to my father, who had learned this saying while off adventuring: "If you want to make a good bowman, start with his grandfather." But for a crossbow, even _I _could use it.

I pointed at the target at the opposite side of the workshop and Fishlegs shot it. His posture was fine. His grip on the weapon was firm. And contrary to what he believed as a child, Fishlegs had good eyes. His problem was that I had seen him overestimate the effects of the recoil the weapon would have. As result, he ended up and pointed the crossbow down at the last moment. This caused the bolt to hit the wall at the wrong point and ricochet off of it then moving to another wall. Which was impossible, crossbow bolts should not ricochet like that. Maybe Fishlegs really was that bad... or cursed. Curses are real, I believe it after all of the stuff Thor was putting me through this week alone.

The projectile bounced several more times, off of furniture, off of tools, off of equipment. And then suddenly the arrow stopped bouncing as it sunk itself in a very different spot Fishlegs and I had planned. The arrow went through my foot. It hurt, very, very much. I wanted to scream but tried to hold it back in my own throat. "Ow…Ow…" I managed to say instead. If I ended up screaming in pain here, Alvin might decide to fire my friend right then and right there. Literally.

"Hiccup!" Fishlegs said as he set the crossbow aside. "Oh, sorry! It's all my fault."

"It's alright, Fish." I said as I gritted my teeth into a fake smile. I sat down on a stone bench right by the anvil. "I don't blame you for that." I lied, even though it was mostly true. I had to remind myself that it was my fault for asking him in the first place.

"Are you going to be alright?" Fishlegs asked with concern.

"I think I will be fine," I replied. "Just help me pull it out and get my foot dressed." I raised my right foot on the other part of the bench for Fish to have a better time treating the injury. The arrow was still sticking out of foot, leaving a trail of blood.

"You want me to just yank it out?" Fishlegs said, "That's not exactly sound medical practice, you know."

"It's the dark ages," I replied. I had seen this thing happen before. "This sort of thing happens all of the time. Look, the wound is not very deep, as the arrow had to go through my boot. Just yank it out, we'll figure out something." It still hurt though and focusing on the facts just helped me distract me from my own pain.

"Fine, just keep calm, okay?" Fishlegs replied as he placed his hands in position to pull it out.

He pulled it out. I gritted my teeth in a smile and held the scream for a moment to let it die to down. It hurt more now, but it had to be removed eventually During this time, Fishlegs took the opportunity to remove my boot and find some fresh clothes to wipe off the blood. I saw the wound with my untransformed eye, blood oozed out a small hole. I wondered how long it would before I would walk without pain once again. A week, a month, maybe never. If it had been a proper crossbow and had the arrow not ricocheted off of the walls several dozen times, I probably would have mangled my foot. Right now, I was just glad I was not losing it right now.

Thoughts however died when I saw something that alarmed me even more than the fact the blood oozed out of the wound. The blood rapidly clotted around the wound. While much of the blood still remained a viscous red liquid, pretty much all of the blood that was directly on top of the gaping hole in my skin rapidly transformed into a scab within a minute of observation. Even better the scab started to fade just as rapidly as it came back.

I moved my foot, it did not hurt any more. It was incredible, I saw a saw a process of healing that would have taken weeks happen in mere _minutes._ In fact, I had healed the injury faster than the blood that had leaked out of the wound was being dried of.

But it was all too good to be true. At that point, I felt a surge of pain course through the whole of my right foot. I saw the nails on my toes sharpen. I saw the shape of my foot become rounder and larger. My foot was undergoing a transformation, like the other parts of my body. When I had awoken today, I had thought that I would no longer be changing spontaneously. Now that I had seen and experienced it for myself, I now knew why I had not experienced a change until just now.

Fishlegs returned with a bucket filled with water and a wash cloth. He dropped it on the spot, noticing the same things I had been seeing. I could not blame him. His only response was, "That is freaky. What do you suppose causes that?"

"Injuries." I stated flatly, examining my new foot. It wasn't longer than it had been before and the scales had completely engulfed. Unfortunately, it had grown large enough that I would need to come up with a bigger excuse for why I had a sudden change in foot wear. It was not going back in my old boot, especially with the hole it has.

"Injuries?"

"It makes sense now that I thought about it." Looking back, I had realized that every part of me that had changed had been subject to a physical injury of some sort. Astrid's repeated punches on the Outcast ship caused me to grow scale on my chest in random places, her axe also caused my left foot to grow scales, the damage I inflicted on myself when I hit Snotlout made my left hand have claws, Snotlout and Alvin throwing me on the ground affected my backside, and lastly Alvin punching my left eye gave me the ability to see in the dark. _When I had said that Alvin disfigured my face, I was just making up a silly excuse. Now I realize how true that statement is._

It scared me, finally knowing that triggered my changes. I had hoped that knowing triggered my transformation would give me peace, give me a means to preserve my slowly ebbing humanity, but no, that was not possible. Some people have all the luck. They either got an animal skin that they could simply take on or off to get to their desired form or maybe had a spell that when cast would instantly change them. No, not me, I had to drink a potion that makes me more dragon every time I got hurt. _What kind of gods ordained this fate on me? What did I do to deserve this?_

"So getting hurt changes you?" It sounded silly, but the truth was worse. Any injury I would suffer could potentially cause me to become a little... less me. Given my tendancy for accidents made this even worse. If a single arrow would did that, I shivered at the thought of what a sword could do. Or for that matter, would it be limited to just physical impact injuries? Would getting a cold twist my internal organs into a dragon's? And for that matter... how injured would I have to get to change fully? None of that beared thinking, all of it was unpleasent. I needed something to think on something more positive.

"Apparently. Completely heals the injury too." As I said that, I stood up from the bench. It was awkward walking with two feet that were differently sized and shaped, but for the most part, it was doable. In fact, I felt that my foot felt a bit better, despite being a completely different shape. How did that work? It made no sense, but it was the only mercy I received.

"That's pretty cool actually, wonder how much can you..."

I frowned, not wanting to think to hard on it. "Fishlegs, please don't."_ Because I don't want to have to find out._

"Sorry... So, I also think that the severity of the injury also determines the extent of the changes," Fishlegs added.

"What gives you that idea?" I replied.

Fishlegs pointed my left boot. "Because your left foot only grew scales after Astrid crushed it with the pommel of her axe. The right changed seems to have much more from a serious injury." There was also the serious implication that I could, in theory, transform wholly into a dragon if I got damaged enough. I wondered how injured would I have to be before that happened.

"I guess you're right. That's one mystery solved then, are there any more we can solve then?" I asked Fishlegs. I needed something else to do, something that wasn't likely to make me lose my humanity. Anything.

"Okay so what about Camicazi's present? I mean you gave her a bunch of metal rods. What is she supposed to do with that?"

"Oh, nothing." During the time I spent making my test crossbow, I had also forged Camicazi's gift for letting me lodge Astrid and Ruffnut into her room that night where everything went wrong. I hid it amongst the various crossbow pieces of equipment by deciding to spend much of the day designing spares parts, which also served an ulterior purpose. When Alvin had me taken back to the cell, I had requested that the girl steal her own present right from Alvin's nose, which she delighted in. It was not a mere sword or a weapon, rather it was something better suited for Camicazi's… unique career choice. Aside from that, I figured it would help her slip in and out of her jail cell… by making it clear she was still there.

* * *

Thor help me. I am training a dragon. Hiccup has clearly lost his mind, assuming he had it to begin, with for asking me to do this. Worse yet, whatever madness that had infected Hiccup had already gotten into me as well. I was agreeing to go along with his stupid plan. I wouldn't have done it if it weren't for the fact that Camicazi had promised to return me my axe as soon as she could. I hated the dragon, I really did, but... I wanted my axe more. I shuddered at the thought of what Alvin would do to it the more he held it in his hands. If I had to go teach a dragon a how to punch and kick a little, then so be it.

Said dragon charged at me while, I was in a ready stance. I punched him hard toppling him down. I might have agreed to do it, but that did not mean that I couldn't make this as painful as possible for the beast. He groaned a bit as he clutched his side and came up.

Right now that dragon was the only one left in this prison cell with me. Fishlegs and Hiccup were off doing wild and crazy experiments for Alvin's sake; Camicazi had snuck out of the cell, off on whatever plans Hiccup had told her to do. I would have gone with her, but she locked the door on me and disappeared off into the caverns. Any guards that wandered close to our cell however would believe that she was still inside sleeping.

Hiccup had apparently seen to it to make a sort of…mannequin of some sort. Built out of a random collection of small metal rods that can be easily put together to form the rough outline of a human of my (and because we were so alike physical, Camicazi's as well) height and build. All the Bog Burglar had to do was put her clothes on it and hide it in a manner that disguised the decoy.

Granted, that led me back to the fact that I had only one activity open to me on the days Fishlegs would be with Hiccup. I was to train a dragon in hand to hand combat. "I can't believe I am saying this, but you're just as clumsy as Hiccup, maybe worse" I said as I knocked the dragon down on his rear for the fifth time this minute. "It's like you have two left feet."

"I used to have two left feet up until recently," he complained as he got up and went back into that awkward pose the dragon thought was a combat stance. "So what did I do wrong this time?" I had to admit Toothless at least was willing to go through this, despite the fact we both held a mutual distrust of each other.

Though the dragon's balance had improved significantly in the past two days, he still lacked the proper coordination of using his hands and feet effectively. I adjusted his stance carefully. "Your stance needs work. You're distributing all of your weight too your left, causing you to lose balance the moment I trip that side. Aside from that, you also keep forgetting you do not have claws anymore."

He frowned at me, but complied. "Yes, teacher," he said with a practiced tone. Something told me that he was used to physical training before. Maybe dragons had a sort of warrior training analogue in their… culture maybe?

It didn't matter, I had to whip him into shape. I threw a punch at him. He dodged it by throwing his whole body to his left, barely slipping past the fist. I followed it up by performing a leg sweep on his left leg, as all of his weight had been forced on it. It would have sent him toppling yet again on the ground if he had not expected it and blocked my sweep with an arm. He could have retaliated with a counter attack, but the thought must not had occurred to him or that he believed he lacked the skill to pull it off yet.

Taking initiate, I launched another attack two fists, one after the other. He had barely enough time to block one, but the second went around his defenses and into his guts. The punch caused him to stagger a bit, but he still held his ground. "You're improving, I have to do more to hit you than before to knock you down."

"I can do better than that," he said as he lobed a fist at me, properly remembering to keep the palm closed. I expected this and he fell for my trap. I ducked underneath the punch and right as the arm went over my head, I spun around and grabbed hold of his arm. Then I used his own force and momentum against him by throwing him over my head, back first into the floor. "Ow…" he groaned.

"I think we've had enough combat practice for now, don't you think?" I had to pity him a little. Night Furies were absurdly powerful and strong dragons, now however, Toothless was just an average boy by any standards. Still, he deserved it, how much cattle had been lost because of him?

"No, I have to keep fighting. Keep getting stronger," he said.

"Why? You'll only destroy yourself if you do not take a break every now and again." _Not that I would mourn it._

"I know." he replied. "I just want to feel… like me, again." I blinked at his statement, understanding that the dragon had been…a boy for three days by now. He was feeling longing.

"You like fighting?" I asked him.

"Yes, well, not really, but this is something familiar to me. It is what I did… my role. I was raised to be a warrior," he said.

"Well… I guess the same goes for all of us then. All of us, even Hiccup to some extent, were raised to be warriors. We just never finished our training…"

"That applies to me as well." said the dragon. "I was but a Squire when I was… changed."

"What's a Squire?" I could probably pry him for information. Maybe figure out something that could be useful after we get out of this rotten hellhole.

"A junior Knight in training?" That did not solve my question. "It's just what we call our dedicated warriors." I suppose that was sufficient though.

Still, it was strange thinking that the dragon before me was a warrior in training, just as I was. It did not bear thinking about. He was not someone I should associate myself with for long and I only bothered teaching him how to fight because it would help Hiccup's mad escape plan. I lobbed a fist at him, right into face. He dodged it any ducked away into a crouching position.

"Hey, what was that for?"

"New lesson, never let your guard down. Especially when you still ask to fight." He leapt at me, on what I now realized was a developed reflex being attempted at a different form. We fought for at least an hour more, before deciding to take a break.

Despite his clumsiness in this new body of his, I did see that he had stamina, enough to keep going as long as I had. He was inspecting the bruises and injuries his body had obtained. I smiled, enjoying the rush of a productive afternoon's training session. The dragon was licking his wounds, both literally and figuratively. It was gross, but I reminded myself that he was not really a person. He groaned in pain, but overall, I did not think I hurt him, much. He did attempt to harm me several times, but mostly, I got away with a few bruises. He looked at me with an expression of amusement and enjoyment on his face. "Thank you… Astrid." he said as he bowed his head.

The statement shocked me… I was being thanked by a dragon. My mouth however decided to go ask a question without me thinking about it. "For what?"

"For letting me know, that I can still be a warrior, that I can still fight. I really needed it. Are you okay?" He pointed to my face, a gesture which he had only recently learned of.

I must have really looked odd. How could I not? I had just received a _thank you_ from a dragon. "It's nothing," I lied as a recollected myself. _Do not show weakness to a dragon, they are the enemy._

He gave me an inquisitive look and told me, "Did I offend you?"

"No, you didn't!" I exclaimed. Thor help me _even more_. I am being embarrassed at talking with a dragon. "I was just not expecting it."

"So, it's because I am a dragon," he stated with understanding, not asking a question.

I nodded. "Sorry," Now I was apologizing to a dragon. The whole Hofferson family line would disown me if they ever found out. At this point, I would just as well disown myself. "This is just odd for me is all. I accept your thank you."

Toothless nodded in reply. "Would you like to talk about something else?"

"What would we talk about?" Most of what we do is talking, but that's what happens when you are forced to spend time with someone else against their will.

"How about Hiccup?" he said.

"Why Hiccup?"

"I'm curious about him… I would like to know more about the one who shot me down." That made sense. If I ended up turning into a dragon, I would like to know as much as I can about the one who transformed me.

"No!"

"Why not? Everyone else pretty much tells me things." He was right, everyone else was more than willing to share information. Camicazi did not even seem to care he was a dragon, Fishlegs asked things in return, more fascinated with a dragon that spoke Norse than afraid.

"I'm not everyone else. I don't trust you."

"I'm not going to stop until you give in." He said with a smirk. He was right about that.

"And I could keep punching you until you stop."

"In which case, I still benefit. I get better at dodging those punches of yours."

"Fine, but after this, you stay silent and don't bother me for a few hours, got it?"

The dragon nodded. "With your honest opinions?" I nodded. So, I was making a bargain with a dragon. This must be some sort of fairy tale. "So, what do you think about him? I heard he was a terrible warrior, yet how was he able to shoot me down?"

"He's okay, I guess." I said. "Runt of a Viking and barely has the strength to do anything worthwhile, but he at least tries to make up for it." With disastrous consequences for failure.

"How?"

"He took up smithing in hope to make weapons to help make up for the fact that he was so… Hiccup." I would also admit, that some of his ideas were actually pretty inventive or perhaps even admirable… if it were not for the fact that most of his inventions tended to fail at the worst possible times. Thankfully, that did not apply to the things he made that were more conventional like axes or spears.

"And he turned to… he called it sorcery, recently. All to bring me down…too right?"

"Yeah," I said. "A lot of Hiccup's ideas tend to backfire all of the time." He had just been caught up in the latest.

Toothless was nodding. "Hiccup said that I would be learning to both of those things along side of him tomorrow. That's what he wants me there with him for right?" I nodded, believing that was to be the case. "What do you think it would be like?"

I shrugged. "I don't know, you'll be the one to find out."

"Am I interrupting something?" said a voice. We both turned and found Camicazi unlocking the prison doors and entering inside only to lock it from the outside. I was glad she returned, I finally had someone other than the dragon to keep me company.

"You're back."

"Yup, and I've got some gifts," the girl said as she held a bag. Inside I saw something delighted me immensely.

"My axe…" I muttered. It was good to have my axe back from Alvin. As soon as I went home, I was going to polish and sharpen it with that deluxe axe care kit I received from Snoggletog last year from someone who decided to remain anonymous, though I had a feeling a certain Chief's son might have been responsible. Of course, now that I meant I had to actually train that dragon. _This better not backfire on us, Hiccup._

"And some other things, nicked a few daggers from the Outcast armories. They won't miss them." She handed a dagger from the bag to the dragon, who took it, clearly not understanding what he was to do with it.

"So what's so important about this?" the dragon asked.

"Now, you really learn how to fight." I said as I backed away from the group, to the opposite side of the jail cell. "Camicazi, mind taking over for me for now? I need a break." Camicazi smiled a little, enthusiastic. I just held my axe close to my chest, thinking. Would making all of these compromises I made today, for a dragon be worth it?

* * *

Last night was disappointing. By the time everyone had returned in time for supper, everyone, including myself, was drained from a very active day. There was little done other than giving a few words and turning in for the night. I hated my new sleep schedule, I much preferred the moonlight over the sunlight, but it was necessary to change my sleeping times.

_"Hey, have you heard?"_

My body may have battered by Astrid's melee combat training, but I still walked with pride alongside Hiccup. The practice knife fighting I had endured from the Viking warrior had shown me that I was horrid with the knife. I was not disappointed, as close combat was never something I relied on much when I had been with the Flight. I was trained for ranged combat using the Breath and flight, something that this body was poorly equipped for. And Hiccup had promised me a worthy substitute to one of those things before he would work on restoring me.

_"Heard what?"_

I walked beside him, examining our surroundings as we were led by the Outcast warriors to wherever it was Hiccup worked. This man, this Alvin held many of my Kin up in metal cages, preventing them from escaping or burning through them. I did not know why Hiccup wanted to release these prisoners, both Herd and Kin alike, but it was his designs, his plans. I could not care less what happened to them, they were just commoners, after all. But even then, they still made noise, still spoke in hushed tones. I was fortunate I still understood their voices. Nothing would have been worse.

_"I heard that the King's new Night Fury had died. Heard it from the King himself before I got captured this morning."_

About me. As soon as that unseen Kin spoke those words, the room exploded into a chorus of shouts and cries. _"Good riddance." "What are you talking about, he could have been the greatest of us." "He should have been born a Terror." _And many, many more shouts

Correction, this was worse. The King had declared me dead. If had to regain my place in the Nest in my Flight, I would have to undo this… whatever it is affecting me. I was dead to my Kin.

_"They never found the body. I believe he is still alive." _I turned towards the source of that voice, looking at the familiar face of a Gronckle, with faded bronze scales, torn up wings. His eyes, gazed upon me as I did that. _"I know we will find him." _The confidence in his voice was unnerving me.

"Toothless, you okay?" Hiccup stated.

_"These Herd will keep us locked in."_

"It's nothing," I assured Hiccup and continued walking along side me. I should not be so intimidated by the gossip of mere commoners, I was a Squire after all… albeit a pronounced dead squire, but a warrior and Knight-in-training nonetheless.

We arrived at our destination soon enough. We were locked inside my our Outcast escorts, leaving me and Hiccup the privacy we needed. "So, what was that about? You looked very… uncomfortable there."

"Oh nothing, just overhearing a conversation about me being dead."

"What? That's actually pretty interesting," Hiccup stated. Since yesterday, Hiccup added a pair of gloves to disguise his hands and moved on to wearing much larger boots to conceal his feet. "You can understand your old language on top of learning Norse, maybe it has to do with the means used to transform you. Say what's the dragon language called?"

"My Kin do not have a name for it and as far as I know, every dragon on the sphere of the world speaks the same tongue… So I do not think there was ever a need to name it." I stated.

"The world is round?" Hiccup stated grabbing a, he called it a 'pin', if I was not mistaken and wrote something down on a book. To me, it resembled nothing other than the scratching of a hen, yet to Hiccup those markings meant something more valuable. My attempts of writing had resulted in me drawing circle that Hiccup said had no meaning. I thought I was perfectly making my intentions clear, but I did not realize I was not. "I always thought the world was flat. How do dragons know it's round?"

"I don't really know." I admitted. "That's just what I had been taught. According to a legend the bards sing from time to time, there was this dragon named Sun Chaser, who earned his name by chasing after the sun for every day of his life. The tale says that he was a member of the Kin who came from a distant land. Most everyone says he resembled a snake with golden scales and flew without wings but had a thousand arms."

Hiccup spent some time writing down my words, before stating. "Go on."

"According to the story, Sun Chaser was a dragon who fell in love with the Sun and sought to unravel all of its mysteries. He traveled the globe and met many of the Kin and yet declared that all spoke the same language. After many years of following the Sun's path, he noticed that there were places that experienced longer or shorter days and nights depending on where they were and on different times of the year.

"According to the tale, some places experienced even days and even nights through the year while others experienced six months of day and six months of night. I don't know how, but he got it in the head the earth was shaped as a sphere after that and started telling any Kin that he met that the Earth was round in the same way the Moon and Sun were round."

"That's amazing, well not really relevant to us right now, but rather insightful." Hiccup stated as he closed the book. "You should tell Fishlegs about it, he'd be very interested in it."

"I'll bet." After the initial meeting, Fishlegs started becoming more amiable towards me when he had learned I knew plenty of things about dragons. Right now, I assumed he was going through training with Astrid as I had yesterday. According to him, it deserved "changing the Intelligence rating of Night Furies to at least a twenty five" whatever that means. I knew each of the words, but the context the words were in was… alien to me. "Personally, I don't think there ever was a Sun Chaser. The story is just too ridiculous to be true."

"Like the Kin turning into the Herd?" Hiccup countered using the words I used to describe dragons and humans respectively.

"That's possible with enough power!" I protested. "Anyways, you did not bring me here to tell stories did you?"

"No, I brought you here for other purposes."He held up the shape of a familiar weapon, one that has haunted my dreams in the past days. I wonder if the Herd had an understanding of what irony was. "First we'll be testing these crossbows for right now then, we'll start to making improvements and new parts for them."

It unnerved me slightly when he gave me a weapon similar to the one that resulted in the King declaring me dead. Although, this might have been what the boy was referring to earlier. "I don't think it's a good idea."

"Come on. You gotta try." Hiccup grabbed another crossbow, one that seemed to be slightly different from the one I used, and aimed it right at a target, a sort of disc with different circles of color, marked at the opposite end of the room. There were arrows there from yesterday. I tried to do as he did, copying his stance, holding the weapon close to my face.

"Look through that prop on the top that tells you roughly where the bow would hit if there's no wind in the way." I held my breath and slowly relaxed my hands.

"Now, pull the trigger." He said as he launched the arrow and hit the target straight into the center of the red circle. At the same time, Hiccup pulled back a 'level', I think that's what it was, causing the crossbow to quickly prepare for what I assumed to be another shot. "Pull the lever to reload and fire again." He repeated this a few more times, each time striking the red mark that I assumed was the goal, before running out of ammunition. "Now you try."

I did as was asked, firing four arrow in quick succession, each hitting a different part of the target, none of them hitting the red. "I'm not very good at this am I?" While I had enjoyed the practice I had gained from Astrid the other day, using weapons was still so unfamiliar to me that I likely passed for being a poor warrior.

"You're doing fine," Hiccup reassured me. "You just need more practice at this. Actually… I may have an idea… Try changing your hands."

"My hands?" Currently, I held the trigger end of the weapon with my right hand. What did what hand I use matter for anything?

"Yeah, some people, like me, are better using their left over their right."

"But you used your right hand to aim the crossbow."

"I know, but that's only because I had too… Left hand dominant people are frowned upon because people think it's a curse.

I frowned at that. "Is it?" I casually inverted my hands and my stance, not really noticing any difference in my aiming ability.

"I don't believe it is… but that does not stop people from saying that it is." I agreed with that. Apparently, Vikings had such silly beliefs. First they say that the world was not round and now they say that left handed people are cursed… Then again, wasn't I cursed into being human?

I held my breath and steadied my hands. I shot the last bolt. I hit the center of the red target. "Nice shot, bud. Okay, so I'll show you how to reload, then I'll give you some exercises that would help me out on the forge, maybe you can do some metal work…" Hiccup was ecstatic and rambling.

I smirked at that applause It might have been luck that had made me succeed, but right now, I did not care. I finally had progress. I decided I liked this weapon Hiccup had given me. With practice, I knew I could shoot further and further targets. It was not the same thing as using the Breath to level buildings, but I could see that crossbows had their own strength their own uses. I would be a fool to notice the potential in these weapons.

Then I realized something much more important, "Wait, did you just call me 'bud'?" As in refering to me as though I were his friend.

"Uh, yeah," Hiccup admitted.

"Why?" It wasn't as though we were friends or anything. At best, we were allies of convenience. He shot me down and taken away my true form, all we was doing was correcting that mistake and I was simply obligated to work alongside him until it was over. Once he was done fixing that, we would go on our separate ways.

"I just felt it would be appropriate," Hiccup stated. "I did not know it would upset you so much, is there a reason I can't call you 'bud'?"

"Well, no, not really," I admitted. Now that I thought about it, the actions. "Why did you feel it would be appropriate."

Hiccup shrugged. "I was just thinking, maybe it would be nice to have you for a friend." Surely, that can't have been all that. Before, the Kin would have sought me out because of my status as the child of a Flight Commander and recently, as an aspiring Squire and future Knight. Some sought me as a companion, other sought me as someone they would like to serve. But then I realized that, none of the Vikings, knew about that part of my life. To them, I was just a Night Fury who ended up turning into a boy.

Camicazi had invited me to play that game the other day. Fishlegs was willing to talk to me about the things that interested him, mostly dragons and plant life. Hiccup was going to extra mile and teaching me about things I had no real need to know, such as boats and writing. Only Astrid still felt that we were 'allies of convenience' and given how casually we talked about things yesterday, that was bound to change eventually. "You would want to be me to be your friend?" I asked him, still incredulous.

"Yeah, I don't exactly very many." Hiccup's face turned into a smile. "So, would you?"

"Let me think about it…" Hiccup's request was genuine. There were no ulterior motives that I could see. I had very little that I could offer him and he could offer me nearly anything. I was powerless and at his mercy. He had nothing to gain from befriending me and yet he still offered it anyways. The fact I was even considering his offer would force a healer to declare a new type of illness that affected the mind.

It might have been nice, the more I thought about it. I wouldn't mind learning more about the world of humans, especially if Hiccup was the one doing the teaching. It was fascinating to see the things the Herd had that the Kin did not. And I was very sure that Hiccup would be interested to learn more about the Kin, given how intently he listened to the story of Sun Chaser. He was also very kind and someone I felt I could trust, given how hard he worked. The main problem was our kinds were mortal enemies and both of us wanted to return to our true forms. "I would like it, I really would." I admitted. "But you wish to become wholly human again and I want to return to my Kin… I don't think we could remain friend should we succeed in returning us, not with our kinds regarding each other as animals to be slaughtered."

"I'm aware," Hiccup said. "Do you think it would be possible to broker a peace between my Tribe and all dragons?" Tribe, I understood meant a similar meaning to Flight, but was more inclusive and more autonomous.

"No," I replied. "Most of the Kin don't even think the Herd speak a language."

"Most of dragons haven't been turned human," Hiccup stated. "I don't suppose there's a leader that we could try talking to into negotiations, that King you mentioned earlier. I figure that since someone has to lead the dragon raids, he might be it." I knew he was referring to our Hunts.

I considered that for a moment. The King, might be willing to broker a deal with Hiccup's people. That way, I did not have to worry about befriending him. In fact, I could easily position myself as a diplomat in that case. In those conditions, I could easily maintain Hiccup's offer of friendship and in so doing, I could offer him something in return. "Assuming we could speak to him somehow, that's all we have to do."

"So, assuming, that we can do that, would you like to be my friend?"

"Yes, I would."

"Okay, so before Alvin shows up and sees that I'm stalling for time, let me show you how to work a hammer on the forge."

* * *

We arrived home a full two days after departing Fort Sinister. The sky was covered by a haze of dark clouds, giving the air a depressing gloom. To think that so much had happened to us all in the span of a week. It was very clear that the gods did not favor us Hooligans right now. Thankfully, we Hooligans were used to the world being against us. We were Vikings after all.

"The warriors have returned!" "Chief Stoic has back!" I heard voices shouting from far away. They obviously did not expect us to return to so soon and we had not sent any messages ahead. Despite that a crowd began gathering as soon as the first shouts were heard. Everyone wanted to know what had happened. Everyone wanted to know if a loved one was going to be feasting in the Great Hall or in Valhalla tonight.

As we approached closer, I saw a welcome face greet me at the docks. Gobber with his peg-leg and hooked hand was the reassurance I needed. At least I had someone still waiting for me to come back home. "Stoick, we've got a problem!"

The sailors onboard my ship moored us on the dock as fast as we could. I saw Gobber holding a piece of paper in his hands, a letter I assumed. "What is it Gobber?"

"Alvin's got Hiccup! We received the message this morning." My best friend handed me the letter and I read it in full.

_To that Pitiful Chief_

_I have your precious son on my island, plus two of his friends. If you ever want to keep your son alive, meet me on my island and we can discuss the terms. If you're feeling especially generous, maybe, just maybe I would let you hear from him again. I don't think you could ever afford the price to buy him his freedom. I intend to keep him my prisoner for a long, long time._

_Alvin, the Treacherous._

My heart broke in two separate ways. On the one hand I now knew my son was alive. On the other, I knew he was in the clutches of that most hated enemy of mine. And given that Thuggory had said that Ingerman boy, the Hofferson girl, and Bertha's child were with Hiccup, it was clear to who that rat was referring to when he meant 'two friends'.

If I had the manpower and if I still had most of fleet, I would lay siege on Outcast Island to take my son back. Then I would sink the island and lock Alvin in a coffin and send that sinking to the bottom of the sea.

But I did not have the resources available to me anymore. My men were wounded and tired from fighting; my half of my fleet was sunk in Oswald's harbor, waiting to be turned into cheap housing; and I myself knew that it would be so simple for Alvin to deny me my victory at the last moment. It would be too foolish for me to engage battle now.

I looked at one of the barrels of food that Oswald had sent us. I had embarked on this mad and suicidal farce for the first place because I felt that putting the needs of my village and the law would be the best course of action. Now all it did was now result in an awful choice. Did I put the needs of the village before my own? My fathers and grandfathers would never have hesitated at this decision, but at the same time I was not my fathers.

I just wanted my son back. I had just noticed that the villagers and the sailors were all standing around, waiting for orders. Many of them were quite relived Hiccup was no longer at Berk, but at the same time, many of them, more than I had ever anticipated, showed concern on their faces. All of them were waiting on my orders. "Everyone disembark, for now. I won't be making any decisions on an empty stomach." This caused the crowd to disperse and the sailors and Viking warriors to leave their boats. "Gobber, take me to Gothi. I need her advice."

Gothi was the village elder, one of the oldest living residents on Berk. Life had been so hard on her that she had shrunken down into a tiny figure of the woman she once was. But for her trouble, she held much wisdom in these manners. Right now, I sat in her cottage that overlooked the entity of Berk. I had no idea why she desired to live so high up when she was an old and frail woman, but there was no questioning her decisions.

I held a cup of tea that she had brewed to the occasion, long before my ship was close enough to be seen from the pier. The fact she had apparently been expecting us scared me a little inside. Her ability to predict things scared me almost as much as the rumors of the various was she could predict death. But that's how it went with people who tended to delve into mysticism and sorcerery. What they knew tended to scare me. "Gothi, I need your help."

Were he still alive, I would have instead requested help from my father-in-law. Gothi, because of her age, was rendered unable to speak loudly or often on her own, so she tended to write in the dirt when she could. Though I could read, I had difficulty in understanding the elder's handwriting, Gobber was better at reading and interpreting those runes than I was. "She says she knows it's about your son." I nodded. _That was pretty creepy. _She drew more lines for Gobber to read. "She asks, 'How far are you willing to go to have him returned to you?'"

"I wish I could go as far as I could go, but I have a responsibility to the Tribe as its Chief," That was the one downside to my job. No matter what I did, I had to prioritize my time between my duties to the village and my child.

"She says, 'As Chief, you're responsible for maintaining and protecting our future. Though few believe in him, Hiccup is our future and you have a duty to protect him.'"

That news relieved me somewhat, making my choice clearer. If the elder said it was fine, then I would have little problem in going to meet Alvin to do what I can to save my son. I still didn't know whether or not I preferred it to be on the field of battle or on the meeting table, but given that he held my son captive, I had to make sure that Alvin did not have his weapon drawn. "Thank you, Gothi, that's the kind of thing I was hoping to hear."

Gothi then continued writing. "She says, 'However, no matter how this conflict will be resolved, Hiccup will be changed, are you still prepared to accept him as your son?'"

Alvin was known to be one of the most feared men in the Archipelago, despite the small size of his Tribe. I had no doubt that on his island, Hiccup would be experiencing things that I doubted I could truly prepare him for. Being captured and held hostage can truly change a man, especially in such horrid condition. Once one had freedom taken away and once hopelessness had made it into the pit of the heart, that kind of experience could be damaging if done for a long enough time. "I just want my son back, Gothi. No matter what happens to him, I'll welcome him home with open arms."

* * *

**Snotlout may be slightly OoC in this chapter than any other. This is due to how difficult it is for me to find a canon source that does not have him overconfident over everything. Granted, after doing some thinking and looking at his family issues plus how he behaved towards people who were bigger and scarier than him such as Alvin, I realize he is a guy who is used to being a bully, being large and in charge. And outside of that place… well, he tends to crack like an egg. Which oddly enough kind of gets proven in a recent episode of Defenders of Berk.**

**Hiccup's repeating crossbows are based on the Chinese repeating crossbow, statistically at least.**

**Also, now you get to see more about the method I plan to have Hiccup use to transform. Some of you may already know what it is because I let it slip too early somewhere in a PM or something.**

**Transformation stories existed as old as time. _Every_ culture has them and well, I decided that Hiccup, being the guy that he is would obviously know of them. So I decided to reference them in general.**

**Because the terms do not exist in setting, I will have to explain it here. Have any of you ever seen those Christmas light wireframe animals? Camicazi effectively got those, sans lights as a present from Hiccup. **

**I love Mythology, I really do. Sun Chaser is a thought I had about what dragons would know and not know and believe in and how they would justify it without writing or tool use. Dragons as a culture would have their own legends to explain their beliefs. And yes, he's an Asian dragon breed. As for whether or not if it's true or not, that's for you to decide.**

**One of the things mind control operating Red Deaths do is remove the possibility of negotiation from the story. I think it would be infinitely more interesting to explore the possibility of what could happen if the Red Death can be reasoned with and spoken to. **


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: Dreamworks and Cressida Cowell own the How to Train Your Dragon franchise. **

**Since a guest has brought up an interesting point and valid argument over some of the issues I had in chapter 5, I edited parts of it. So thank you anonymous reviewer who probably deliberately misspelled "Guest".**

**I would also like to congratulate Thorborn on being my official beta reader.**

**I hope you folks enjoy the story.**

* * *

My plans were useless. Just as I was useless. I failed them, again. Alvin had all along known I was deceiving him and intentionally let me plot my own demise just so that he could crush my hope. Now, I was alone, separated from everyone so that Alvin could dole out personalized punishments. I did not know their fates, but now I was strapped to a table by chains and bereft of all of my clothing, exposing the random assortments of scale, claws, and my eye that I had worked so meticulously to conceal.

I struggled uselessly against my chains, but even with my increased strength that was useless to me.

Weeks of planning, all for nothing.

"Hiccup," the tall Outcast said a gleam of satisfaction in his eye. "We had a deal. You thought you could double-cross ol' Alvin the Trecherous did you?"

I shivered, but tried to focus myself. I spat at him. "Like anyone would be stupid enough to trust a name like yours. Maybe if you were Alvin the Poor-but-Honest-Farmer…"

He sneered me. "Hmph, you got some fight left in you. I bet you're wondering what kind of punishment you'll be getting."

"What kind of punishment are you going to inflict upon me?" I played his little game.

Alvin held up a little sewing needle and twirled it around deftly between his fingers. You know, for a brutish thug of a man, Alvin had nimble fingers. "The thing you've been dreading most. Change." My heart skipped a beat and my blood ran ice cold. Alvin now knew that every time I got injured my body rapidly recovered. "And I'm going to be giving that to you, one pinprick at a time…" I rattled my chains again but to no avail.

"Wait, what about the ransom?" Please, oh please. Thor, Odin, I would love to be held hostage and not tortured by Alvin the Treacherous.

"Oh, don't worry about that, I'm sure your dad loves you enough to pay for you no matter how much of a dragon you are."

Alvin stood over me, needle and handle and jabbed my untransformed right hand. It hurt, but not as much as the incident with the repeater. I looked at my palm, seeing the blood welling up. It healed very quickly, leaving behind the usual small coat of black scale of a Night Fury. Alvin did it again, several times, each time, I was helpless to stop him as he constantly punctured the skin on my defenseless hand. He fed off of my screams and groans of pain. I wept at little as I tried to see my hand turn into a vicious claw that was oversized and poorly fit on my small body.

Then suddenly the needle broke in half, much to my delight. Alvin hurriedly threw it away, then pulled a whole box seemingly from out of nowhere. My heart sake as he drew multiple needles from the box. I was turned into a human-gradually becoming dragon pincushion. Alvin changed a large portion of my lower body, including both of my legs and the whole of my right arm. At this point, I was more dragon than boy. "Please, make it stop, Alvin," I cried tears. I just wanted it to be over. I cursed my powerful healing ability for making it hard for me to pass out or die from blood loss or injury. It would have been so much easier if that was the case. Then I realized my mistake. I had asked for mercy from _Alvin the Treacherous._

"I've just about had enough of your whining," the Outcast Chief said as he pulled a very old looking cooking pot, inscribed with runes and sigils of arcane working. "Let us see what happens now." Alvin forced my mouth open by grabbing my lower jaw and I was made to drink the orange metallic look liquid that had gotten me into this mess. I choked on the liquid and tried to keep myself from swallowing it, but the force, the heat, and the fact I was having a hard time breathing had ultimately make myself swallow it gulp by gulp.

Alvin withdrew once the pot was empty and just threw it away when its use was finished. "Alvin…" I coughed out. I did not know what happened when to someone if they took a second dose of the potion, but against my will, I would find out. My throat was changing, I could feel it warping and reshaping and in only a few moments, the feeling subsided. _"Alvin," _I said again. This time instead of words, it came out as an unintelligible roar… except I understood it. The whole racial language thing dragons had was so confusing on how it worked.

"Alvin!" I heard a voice boom out. Heavy footsteps told me someone was approaching and I could not turn and see the source. However the voice was a welcome sound as it sounded utterly disgusted and angry at the Outcast Chieftain. "I've got your payment, now leave us alone." It was my father, coming to save me. I thanked the All-Father.

Alvin backed away, from me to greet my father, who had just come into view. "Stoic," Alvin said with enough cheer and a smile wide enough to make my skin _and scales _crawl. "I take it you have enough to buy back your, son."

"I have no son," I heard my father say. My heart broke, the words cut like a knife. I was no longer his son? Then why did my father buy me back? "Your payment is outside, you can check for yourself if it is enough, now leave us."

Alvin just smiled at that and went off on his way, leaving me alone with my former father. "Such a shame, Savage was thinking, I'd make quite a sight riding on him." The idea of Alvin riding on top of me was scarier than the needles.

_"Dad," _ I tried to say, only for it to come out as a roar only I could understand. I wept. My father just looked at me with a cold disdain that I had never seen him give me before. Even in all of the years I had been Hiccup the Useless, the Viking without a chance, never once did I ever see my father hate me as he did right now. All because I was a dragon.

"You were my son, but you've thrown your lot _with them._" He said with menace. Like most Vikings, he had lost many a loved one to dragons over the years, so it was a soft spot for him. "You were always different, everyone knew that and I _loved _you despite all that. And this is how you repay me! You're no son of mine, you're one of the enemy now." My father went out of my field of vision. I did not know what he was doing, but I could hear the clanging and shuffling of wood.

_"What're you going to do with me?"_ I roared in my new language. He did not seem to understand me, but I knew that I would receive my answer soon enough. I could see my father better now, moving back and forth, placing and piling wood around the table I was strapped to. I hoped being partly a dragon made me relatively fire proof. Being burned to death was not a sensation I would like to know. On the other hand, I doubted it would be as bad as the knife my father stabbed through my metaphysical heart. Maybe dying would have been better.

"And like an enemy," my father said, a torch in his hand. "I will destroy you." He threw the torch at me, setting the wood and the table on fire.

Working as a blacksmith by trade, I had experience with getting burned. Usually it was my own fault and usually, it wasn't too bad as I had safety equipment preventing me from getting singed too badly. This on the other hand, hurt more than anything else I ever experienced. It hurt, a lot. The fire ate at my flesh, like school of those mythological piranha I heard stories about. Unfortunately, the fire did not turn me into the ash and cinders that I had hoped it would. Instead of turning me into a shriveled up old mess, I grew bigger. Everything about me grew larger.

The table could no longer support by no longer ninety pound weight and collapsed as the fire ate at the supports. That pain was almost a comforting, being more familiar than the sensation of being burned alive, yet not dying. The shackles that held me came undone as my arms grew too large for them to contain. My back hurt, and I knew that I was growing additional appendages, being the wings and tail I would need to fly. In the end, the fire stopped hurting me, becoming an almost pleasant sensation of warmth. The last of my humanity died away along with the fire. I was in body, a dragon, just as I feared would happen.

My father drew a sword. I knew for what purpose. _"No!"_ I roared out, again in the dragon language. I did not want to die, not by his hands, not like this. I might change my inclination later. I keep going back and forth on the whole living and dying thing, since I don't know at this point if it was better to live or die. With my bindings undone, I was free to act. Using instincts I did not even know I had, I whipped my tail at my father's legs and sent him on the ground. _Sorry, dad._

The sword was knocked free from his hands in the fall and it gave a metallic clang as it fell upon the hard stone floor. One look at his face was all I needed to know that I had upset him. My eyes scanned the room for an escape as my father took time to get up. There were no windows or anything, but I did find a door, which must have been the room's only visible entrance. I knew Alvin, the Outcasts, or any Hooligans were likely behind it, but they were all more pleasant than dealing with my father.

I leapt up at the door and used my right hand to try and grab it. I was fortunate that Night Fury palms were still human enough to use doors. The door led me to a large circular room, which must have been Alvin's mess hall. As I had feared, it was stuffed to the brim with dragon killing warriors of all shapes and sizes, including Alvin himself. The Outcast Chief only needed to look at me for a second before he yelled, "Get that dragon!"

I ran through the mess hall by jumping atop one of the large dining tables, as it led me directly to two enormous double doors. Instinctively though awkwardly, I ran atop the table and randomly scattered whatever plates of food and silverware that were place upon in, granting me a slight distraction as Vikings of all sorts tried to look at me. Being bigger than even my father and a type of dragon known for speed, I moved nimbly, evading swords slashes, axe throws, and other assorted nasty weapon attacks.

I leapt off the table, seeing the exit not very far away. Some Vikings attempted to block the entrance using their bodies with shields raised. Big mistake, they forgot to raise any weapons. The best part about being a dragon, I weighed more than them and I was moving at them at a sprint… or what passed for one. I plowed through them. They all toppled down like a bunch of bowling pins. Strike for Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third.

To my relief, the large doors those Vikings guarded opened to the outside and meaning that my tackle through the door, did not slow down. For the first time in ages, I cheered at the sight of the bright sun after spending weeks toiling in Alvin's dungeon. I ran some more, towards the nearest sighting of blue ocean. Unfortunately, like Berk, Outcast Island was built on top of island cliffs, giving me little more room to run without scaling walls or hunting for ledges. _Maybe I could fly, I have the wings._ Somehow, the idea of flying away into the sunset just thrilled me, finally letting go of the limits that I had been bound by for so long. Even though I did not know where I wanted to travel to, "anywhere except here" was good enough.

Unfortunately, I would never get to try. A sharp pain entered the back of my left knee and extended all the way through the kneecap, sending me sprawling to the ground. I only had a moment's reprieve before another hit my right. My hindlegs failed to respond, the pain so intense that I could only roar and groan in agony. I could feel that that strange bodily process that healed me rapidly try to kick in, but whatever had taken me was also preventing it from completing. I tried to crawl way, using my arms or forelegs, whatever they were called now, to drag me forward, to feebly escape my attackers. My hopes were dashed as my attacker also struck my arms. It was only now that I had the time to realize that my attacker shot arrows through the joints in my limbs and in quick succession. Now, I could see who had taken me down in my peripheral vision.

Toothless walked into my field of vision, crossbow in hand. I really regretted teaching him now. "You took everything away from me, now I am going to do the same to you."

_"Toothless, I am so, so sorry. Please, I beg you, spare me." _I roared in that nameless language. I knew he could understand, since it was his native tongue.

"I am not going to kill you," he said. That did not relieve me in the slightest. "She will."

Then I saw, Astrid approach me, axe in hand. "You're a failure of a Viking, Hiccup. Your plans are always doomed to failure." It was true, I was a failure. Everything I did resulted in failure.

"We would have been fine if it were not for you, I would still be me." I was responsible for that. I shot Toothless down and made him human with a single enchanted arrow.

"Alvin, would never have captured us and held us prisoner." Yes, if I never went after Toothless or Night Furies in the first place, I would still… wait, hang on. We were all captured, yet why were _they_ here right now? In fact, those two_ hated, _or at this point, disliked, each other, why were they working together?

"It is time we had our revenge." Toothless said. Now that I thought of it more, this whole thing made no sense. I was definitely moving too smoothly and with much better coordination for someone who had just rapidly turned into a dragon after all. I had also been set on fire a little way too quickly when the only fuel was just firewood. If it was oil, maybe I would have burned faster. And well, everyone, Alvin and my father, Toothless and Astrid were way too friendly to their supposed enemies. Only in my dreams would I see something like that. And upon that thought, I realized that the reason I seen those things was because I was in a dream.

"I think I'll keep your head as a trophy," Astrid said as she raised her axe. Then if this was a dream, all I had to do was wake up. "You're just a dragon now." The axe cut off my head, strangely it was painless, maybe it was because I realized it was all an illusion. Or maybe I had gone mad. My eyes saw the world tumble around me as my head descended from the ground.

My last thoughts and the last thing I saw were the dream fakes of Toothless and Astrid. Then everything faded to a bright light.

* * *

Hiccup was groaning awake after a nasty nightmare. Astrid and Toothless had rushed to his side the moment he had started screaming and groaning in illusory pain. I, myself, was not far behind them. Camicazi was the only one not present and that was because she had last minute errands to accomplish before everyone woke up. I wonder if Trader Johann could pick up any books dealing with the dreams, it certainly make for a great read after I finished with that botany book I had ordered. As long as it wasn't all magicky like that book Hiccup had shown me, maybe it would help me stop my own nightmares. I had way too many.

"Hiccup, are you okay?" I heard Astrid call towards my oldest friend.

"I must still be dreaming…" The son of the Chief said groggily. "You two are still around me… With Fishlegs. Hey Fishlegs." He waved his arm like it was a soggy noodle. I waved back. Whatever that dream was, it did not do Hiccup any favors. At the very least, he had woken

"Uh," Toothless stuttered. "Would you like us to get you anything?"

"Maybe some water," Hiccup said absent mindedly. At that statement, both Toothless _and _Astrid left the two of us alone. We both looked at run towards a feeding trough with a set of cups Alvin had left for us to serve as our daily water supply. More than you would expect to offer a few prisoners, but it was clean.

I could see Hiccup grab his head with one of his nearly always gloved hands to try and settle what must have been dizziness. Though he did not say it, I could figure out what his nightmare had been about, there was a slow build up towards it. He had been getting more unstable every day especially since he had learned that even the slightest injuries caused him to grow scales. More and more, I had seen him shy away from even the smallest of needles, all to avoid harm and further becoming less human. On top of that, was that he had been getting rather paranoid about Alvin finding out our plans and doing worse things to us. So when you have all that and add in some chronic insomnia, it came as no surprise he had a bad dream.

I will readily admit I am a big coward. I can barely stand total darkness for more than five _seconds_ before I break down and weep. But Hiccup? Hiccup was now scared of _everything._ "I don't get why you don't just use one of those arrows that made Toothless human, it would saved you a lot of trouble if you did not have to worry about getting more and more dragon-like. We did make one of them yesterday." Camicazi had pickpocketed dozens and dozens of coins over the past few weeks to get us enough silver to melt down. As most were not pure silver and it took far too long to filter the metals, Camicazi just stole as much as she could to get us the materials we needed. Any coins we rejected were her property. Camicazi had also stolen back the notes I had copied from the book the night of the raid. This allowed Hiccup access to the arcane knowledge granted by the book, despite the thing being on Alvin's body at all times. Needless to say, the Bog Burglar was enjoying being held hostage on Outcast Island since she was stealing everything left and right.

"I know, but I might need the strength and the ability to recover quickly, especially today. I can't risk losing either of those yet." It had been nearly over four weeks since had captured us and Hiccup had declared it almost time for us to plan our escape. "I've been dealing with this for several weeks now, a little more time is not going to hurt anything. Keep it with you, once we're free, you can shoot my foot again." That last part meant to be a joke, but made me uncomfortable, especially since that incident with started Hiccup's descent into madness.

Just then, we had seen Toothless knock Astrid away from the water trough before filling it with water. "Hey! What was that for!?" Astrid yelled.

"I'm getting Hiccup the water he asked," Toothless replied with a smile. I didn't mind Toothless much and he seemed quite nice to everyone, except Astrid who held the same opinion. Mostly we just spoke about what we knew and traded information, especially stuff about dragons. I managed to get my copy of the _Book of Dragons _from Alvin under the guise of using that information for "testing purposes". I could not pass the opportunity up. After all, not even Bork the Bold never got to have a _conversation _with a dragon. For some reason, he was oddly interested in boats, never could figure out why.

"You?" Astrid scoffed as Toothless walked away. Astrid then sent the boy to the ground by shoving him to the ground. The water in the cup spilled out. "You don't exactly have his best interests at heart. Human form or not, you're still a dragon." Astrid filled her own cup and started to rush towards the slowly awakening boy,

"And you do? I seem to recall Hiccup flinching every time you so much as raise your hands." Astrid had to break her old habit of punching everyone whether or not it was appropriate because of Hiccup. Toothless then knocked the cup Astrid held in her hands, returning the insult from earlier. They were fighting about helping Hiccup, it was just ridiculous. "I will care for him."

"The sad part is, they both have my best interests at heart." Hiccup told me.

"Which typically excluded the people they disliked," I added. Hiccup nodded in silent agreement.

"Take that!" Astrid said to Toothless as she punched the smaller and less melee competent defender. While Toothless was definitely more comfortable moving in his body than he had since he had first changed, he was still a long way off from defeating, the much more martially gifted Astrid. Still, the boy had guts and retaliated by tackling Astrid to the ground.

"Fish, I recommend staying back," Hiccup said as he stepped over there woozily. This them prompted the two to grab their cups and fill them with water once more. They gave them a smile as Hiccup took both of the cups and poured them on top of his head. "Oh, thanks I needed that." I could tell that he did not want to favor one or the other too greatly, else he would alienate the other. With Hiccup stated, the two just went back to fighting again, both of them rather enjoying it.

I did the sane thing and not to get involved with a dragon-turned-human and a Viking shieldmaiden trying to care for a Viking-who-gets-more-dragon-when-hurt. I backed away and let them do whatever they were doing unimpeded. I found Camicazi entering the our little jail cell, holding a jar filled with berries of some sort. The jar was labeled "Deadly Nightshade Berries", one of theingredients in that strength potion Hiccup brewed. This was the last thing on Hiccup's list of things he wanted to acquire before the escape attempt. The other ingredients were gathered some other time with great ease. With it, he had planned to return Toothless to his true form to grant us more firepower and muscle on our way out.

"Camicazi? You're back early," I told her.

"Oh yeah, guards were drunk tonight. Dead to the world."

"Isn't that fortunate? Might make things easier on us tomorrow, er today."

"So what's happening?" She said as she turned towards the mess involving Hiccup, Astrid, and Toothless. "Ooh, I like watching a good scuffle, what're they fighting on about this time?" In the recent weeks, Astrid and Toothless have made it a habit to get into scuffles every now and again, for the most pointless things. They no longer displayed outright hatred for one another, but they still viewed each other with suspicion. And that tended to break down into minor conflicts.

"They fought over who'd give Hiccup a glass of water. Who does that?" I told her. The scene made no sense whatsoever.

Hiccup had tried to get involved in their scuffle, but to no avail. They were currently wrestling each other on the ground. Surprisingly, Toothless, though terrible at swordplay, seemed to have a much better job at defending himself from Astrid's attempts to pin the former dragon. "Realy? I never would have guessed. It's enjoyable at least," Camicazi said. Then I heard an odd crunching and grinding noise come from her general direction. I saw that the Bog Burglar had a bag from which she drew strange yellowish puff balls from.

"What're those?"

"Oh, these, just something I picked up in the kitchen, would you like some?"

"Sure, I guess." I showed her the palm of my hand and she poured a small helping of the strange food stuffs. I could taste a large amount of butter and salt as I chewed through the strange food. "I wonder how the Outcasts made them, they make an excellent snack."

"Yup, especially when you're watching stuff." Camicazi stated.

Toothless and Astrid were still grappling each other. Astrid was positioned on top of the former dragon, performing a headlock that kept the dragon pinned on his belly. Toothless seemed to be struggling, but did not seem all that frightened or worried. And before it seemed like the dragon could make a comeback, Hiccup heaved a bucket filled with water and poured its contents over the fighting duo. This caused them to break away, and cough out the water. "Thank you for confirming this is not a dream."

Toothless shook himself dry like a dog or animal would. I suppose for all of the dragon's proclaimed intelligence, they still had very animal like behaviors. Astrid simply just wiped her face off using her freehand. "What are you talking about?" Toothless exclaimed.

"And what was that for?" Astrid added.

"Only the real Toothless and Astrid would get into a fight over who gives me a mug of water. And I decided to return the favor." Hiccup stated flatly. Even I could tell this was a bad move. Camicazi decided to chew more of the strange puff balls in quick succession, apparently thrilled.

"You know… Astrid, I think Hiccup could use a little more water." Toothless said as he stood up, a tone of vindictive menace in his voice.

"Yes, Hiccup does look rather parched, don't you agree?" Astrid stood more, placing herself towards Hiccup's rear. This meant that that partially-turned-dragon-boy was now placed in between a slowly approaching former dragon and a Viking shield maiden.

"Uh guys…" he said sheepishly. Camicazi and I were both going through the back of puff balls at an alarming rate, mostly to relieve tension and distract ourselves. We both did not want to get involved, yet it was too exciting to watch what happened. I had hide my eyes behind one of my hands, hoping that I would not be looking at a particularly nasty scene, but one of eyes still managed to see the whole thing by peeking though the gaps between my fingers.

Fortunately for me, the scene was not something from a grisly, gruesome fairy tale. Astrid pinned down the Viking boy by his clothes and took extra care not the physically harm him. Toothless, grabbing the bucket Hiccup had used prior, emptied the last remnants of water in the trough and poured it over their captive.

Hiccup spat out water from his mouth. "Great, the first time I get you two to do something together, you target _me_."

"I so love twist endings. Two enemies team up to fight a bigger threat!" Camicazi said between mouthfuls of strange food stuffs. We both laughed at the unusual scene that played out before us.

"The ending was anticlimatic," I added. _And well, the whole thing was just ridiculous from the get go._ And just like that, the fighting was over and Camicazi's bag of snack foods was emptied.

* * *

I am not above taking vengeance, not even on a friend. Hiccup deserved every ounce of water that I gave him, not the least reason was because he had interrupted my bout with Astrid. Especially since I was about to win. It was only fair that I responded with a little harmless retaliation. Besides, I didn't think Astrid roughed him up enough for him to develop more unwanted scales.

By the time Alvin's men had come to take us in an hour after the fact, Hiccup and I were mostly dry. I gave Hiccup a smug grin as we walked past the dragons leading up to the workshop. The old gronckle from the other day still eyed in particular. I still did not know how I would communicate with him, but if I could, the first thing I would ask was how it known I had become human.

Before long, we were in the familiar little workshop again, which we both knew would be the last time we would enter this place against our wills. And the last time I would be wholly human. Hiccup had already briefed me about the potion and its… unusual method of transformation. But if it meant I would have wings again, I told the boy I would set myself on fire to achieve that. Unfortunately, Hiccup shivered away from me when I said that. I could only imagine it had to relate to his nightmare tonight.

"I thought you were my friend you know…" Hiccup said as he was tracing runes onto two cast iron pots. He wanted to make a second potion, just in case someone was mortally wounded, since the potion granted its imbiber supernatural healing abilities. He figured that being part dragon would be preferable to being all dead.

"I am," I replied, not understanding the statement. Did my attacking him along with Astrid cause upset him more than I realized? Though I did not consider the _girl_ my friend, I was able to tell that she was Hiccup's. Granted, something told me there was more to it than that. "Did I offend you?"

"Well, you did attack me with a bucket of water," Hiccup stated.

"Only because you did."

"Because I needed to stop you and Astrid from beating each other up."

"That was between me and _her. _Besides, I was going to win eventually. You had no right to stop us."

"Having a fight over giving someone a cup full of water has to be the dumbest thing to have a fight about. And Astrid had you pinned to the ground with a headlock, really hard to escape that." I scoffed at his statement, I had at least a few avenues to break that hold and I knew it.

While Hiccup was working on the potions, I decided to spend as much time possible working on the forge, since I decided I liked the activity. Twisting earth with fire and water into a new form was appealing. Though molten metal resembled fresh Gronckle vomit, it possessed great potential if harnessed properly.

I had always seen fire as a force of destruction, a force created through the Breath meant to be a weapon. Now however, I saw fire with different eyes, literally and figuratively. The coal and wood powered furnace I had seen did not destroy, but create. With the right knowledge and the right materials, it became possible to make something new. Over the past moon, I had assisted Hiccup in making weapons, each growing more sophisticated and more powerful with each day.

Like the Kin, the Herd drew power from fire, but they did so on their own terms. And I wanted that power for myself. I was nowhere near Hiccup's skill level, but I was at least good enough to forge a decent sword without aid. I did not know of the chances I would continue blacksmithing when I was back in the King's service, but I would resolve to bring it back along with me. Though I had yet to make a kill to silence my detractors, I would not be returning home with an empty mouth. It would be all of the proof I needed to convince the Kin that the Herd were better as servants than as enemies.

On any other day, I would have made simple parts for machinery. Right now, I was just forging a simple knife, something to give me a little excersize. Hiccup, Fishlegs and I made plenty of weapons in the past moon, but despite that, the workshop was never full. The Outcasts entered in every morning to take our production. Though they only succeeded in taking half of the things we made. Every night, Camicazi would break in and spirit half of the weapons someplace else. I did now know where.

The only weapon neither Camicazi nor the Outcasts decided to take were the three barrels of Zippleback firegas that Hiccup, Fishlegs, I had had spend a few days building a special machine which the others called a 'pump' to extract it from an unconscious dragon. Hiccup had claimed to Alvin that he would be making that apparently threw fire and he would have, before deciding the device was too dangerous. Really, all of us would have preferred that the barrels be moved elsewhere, as it was an explosion just waiting to happen, but Alvin had decided to let us keep it in the workshop as a reminder of our failure. Right now, they were as far away from any sources of heat as possible.

I had just about finished my knife around the time Hiccup had completed his potions. I cooled off the heated metal using water and set it aside for later use. "It's done," he told me.

I gave him a big grin, excited to finally return to my true form. I took one of the cooking pots he gave me. "I think I'm going to miss having hands," I told him. "They have their uses." I opened the lid and saw the bright warm metallic liquid held inside. I didn't drink it, not yet.

"Really?" he asked. "I'm more worried about potential communication issues."

"Why's that? I can understand my Kin just fine. I'm sure I would still be able to understand you."

"Well, Dragonese or Draconic…" Hiccup had been trying to name the language of the Kin for some time now. These were the two 'best' names. Personally, I would wish it be called the 'Tongue', but humans had to have names for everything it seemed. "Is your native tongue. You spent your whole life learning use so it makes sense you'd retain it. I don't know the same applies to the magically acquired Norse you have…"

"Right… Well so before I take drink this, mind explaining to me what the phrase 'Bottom's up' means?" I had heard the others say that phrase every now and again when they took a drink. Usually, before dinner. While many Norse words themselves were perfectly understood by me, I still had trouble understanding certain phrases. I mean I shouldn't take it at face value, but the term was very paradoxical.

"It's just something people say when taking a drink… It refers to well, the fact that when drinking we tilt whatever we're drinking out of to pour the water into our mouth. Hence the term 'Bottom's up… The bottom is moved to the top. I don't think dragons have silverware or cups, bottles, or flasks, so they never really had need of a phrase like that." I nodded at his explanation. "So why did you ask?"

"Felt it was appropriate." I stated. "Bottom's up!" I stated as I raised the pot over my head and readied to pour it. Except that I did not have time to pour it. Large hairy hands tore the pot from mine. I felt a kick land on the small of my back, sending me to the floor. I was confused, unable to understand what was going on.

"Alvin!" Hiccup yelled. I rolled myself on my back and seen our captor stand right over up. For someone so big, he could be pretty sneaky. Behind him, coming from the door to the workshop were two Outcasts warriors to each side of Alvin. I could not escape from them, not unarmed.

"You thought you could double-cross ol' Alvin the Trecherous did you?" he stated. He held the pot with one of his large hands. "I don' know what else you've been doing behind my back, but I knew that you would be behind whoever took those berries. I knew you'd be lying about that potion not working and I knew it was only a matter of time before you tried to brew it yourself…" He raised the pot closer to his gullet.

"Alvin, you don't want to drink that, believe me!" Hiccup told him.

Alvin refused to listen. "Shut it, I'll be strong enough to rule the whole Archipelago after this." He drank the potion and promptly feel to the ground. Apparently, the potion tended to knock someone out cold the moment they drank it.

"What did you do to him boy!?" The Outcast guards shouted, their weapons trained on Hiccup. Of course, while everyone had been busy paying attention to Alvin, they were not looking at the boy who was slightly shorter than Hiccup reach the weapon's rack and grab a crossbow. I smiled as I pulled the trigger. One of the guards fell. I made my first kill, not by claw, not by fang, not by Breath, but by arrow. A human weapon.

With an automatic reflex, I pulled back the reloading mechanism, springs inside the magazine pushed another bolt into place, ready to fire again. "Get down!" I told the boy, he rolled out of the way and dropped to the ground just in time to evade a swing of the axe from the surviving guard. I shot another arrow, this time I missed. While I was getting good at the crossbow, I was still not perfect at it. The arrow however hit something else. It hit one of the barrels of Zippleback gas, puncturing the barrel and producing a jet of flammable gasses… in a blacksmith's forge that still had fire in it.

About the only saving grace was that the guard was rendered blind from the gas clouds. Hiccup and I took this opportunity to escape from the front door. Thankfully, it was unbarred and unguarded. I suppose Alvin must have thought he and his men must have believed themselves to be enough for whatever confrontation they were expecting. We barred the door, locking the surviving Outcast inside, waiting for whatever fate is ahead of him. He tried to force open the door, battering it with his fists. All of it useless. In a way, I pitied him, but he was my enemy. It was unfortunate that humans lacked flame proof scales.

We ran from the door before seeing the result. The explosion was deafeningly loud, but there was no fireball that reached to us. It wouldn't be long before other Outcasts came looking at us.

"That went better than I thought it would," Hiccup told me.

I just stared at him, incredulous at what I was hearing. "You expected worse?"

"I was expecting to take a cut back there and to be missing a few items." Hiccup had on him the other pot containing the second potion and had his small knife held in a sheath by his belt. In the confusion of the zippleback gas cloud, he had also managed to steal the book off of Alvin.

"You let me get this straight, you were expecting Alvin to realize we were brewing that potion?" I asked him.

"No, not really, I just saw it as a possibility, though I was not expecting Alvin to drop like that and the Outcasts to go berserk."

I nodded. "So how'd that happen?"

"That potion seems to knock people out as a side effect… I recommend not taking it for now, I could use you awake for a while." I nodded. Things were going to get rather hectic and I did not think I wanted to sleep through it all. He handed me the pot. "Don't know how long it will last, but you should be the one to carry it." I nodded.

"Is he dead?" I told him. It would be fortunate if Alvin died. He was not someone I would have wanted to fight, even if I had my breath. With any luck the Zippleback gas choked him and burned the remains when it blew.

"I wouldn't count on it…"

"I can dream can't I?" My hopes assumed Alvin was still a normal human. There was no telling on how twisted he would have become from the explosive force of the gas.

"The prisoners have escaped! Get Alvin!" Shouted someone across the tunnel, an Outcast warrior who along with others. They

I muttered a curse under my breath. I shot one in the leg, stopping him on the ground with a mangled foot. My crossbow did not shoot fast enough to defeat them all, and they were getting closer. "How do we deal with them?" I asked.

"Like this." I saw Hiccup brandish a set of keys, all of them barely used. Another thing we did was make copies of the various keys we could gather from the Outcasts. Camicazi provided us with the shapes by taking a mold of any keys we could find. With those keys, Hiccup unlocked one of the nearby prison cells, one of the ones filled with my kin. My Kin burst out of the cell, making cries of freedom and celebration. They did not care that one of Herd aided them, they just wanted freedom. They ploughed through the Outcasts line. Likely killing or knocking them out.

All save one. That old bronze Gronckle that apparently knew who I was approached me. _"So your scent is does not lie. It is you." _He told me. So now, I knew. Apparently, I still smelled the same. Which was good, as it meant that any of my Kin who knew it would know I am one of them. I tried to reply but it was clear he did not understand me. So I just nodded, body language was simpler. He understood that._ "It is unthinkable that you have become one of the Herd, though I will not complain… For this service, you have my approval. I will report to the King about your current situation. I bid you good bye."_

"What was that all about?" Hiccup asked. "A Gronckle just spoke to you."

"Oh that, merely an ally." I told him. "And you've had been speaking to a dragon for weeks now."

"No, I've only been speaking to a Viking boy and I'm more dragon than you." I just shook my head.

The Gronckle, despite his incredible age, injury to the wings, and status as a commoner, ran ahead of the group of charging dragons. Maybe I had underestimated him. _"For the King's glory, we will return to the Nest!"_ He roared.

"Okay, let's begin opening more of these cages," Hiccup told me, using the keys to open even more cages of frightened and anxious commoners. "With any luck, Astrid heard the loud explosion or at least sees the rampaging dragons and Outcasts." I nodded. Hiccup because he could not remove the Zippleback gas from the workshop, decided that the best use for it was to use it as an alert to begin the escape. Granted, he had hoped to do it in a place that allowed it to be heard more clearly, he had realized that at the very least it would cause panicking in the Outcast ranks. This was of course before the dragons would be released.

"You did realize that we stand a chance of getting killed if these… captives we release decided we would be better off dead right?"

"Yeah, I did. That's not a problem is it?"

"It might be…" I said, I was looking into an empty cage. It was not unlocked, yet had nothing in it… except for a gaping hole in the ground. It brought painful memories. The ground beneath my feet began cracking by some unseen force, and I only had a split second to evade it before I got swallowed up by the gaping maw that appeared right from under me.

The serpent's body emerged from the hole. Its form bore a scars in the shape a bite mark, a gift from my mother."Toothless!" Hiccup called me. I did not know his name, but I knew he was dangerous.

_"You!" _I saw familiar eyes look at me, though I knew they were mostly useless. _"Young Night Fury, we meet again. I shall take pleasure in destroying you." _It Deaths from what I understood had very bad eye sight, so it might have known who I was only by keen smell alone. It was very possible that he couldn't even tell I had been turned into one of the Herd since he referred to make a Night Fury.

"Hiccup, keep opening cages, I'll take care of him!" I shot an arrow at him. He evaded the attack by ducking his head. Climbing to my feet, I made a run for it with the Whispering Death on my metaphorical tail. Hopefully Hiccup would do well without me. The first time I met him, I was a mostly helpless fledgling. Now at least, I was a warrior. Albeit, a human one, but still, I was a warrior and Squire. That had to count for something.

* * *

It wasn't long after Hiccup and that dragon left before we heard the faint echoes of some explosion, a phantom shockwave of force come unexpectedly… at least for anyone who wasn't aware of what it was. Then, Outcasts came streaming in towards the source of that force. So far, Hiccup's mad plan was working as he had expected it to. It was time for us to do our part.

Once the Outcasts seemed to have stopped pouring through, Camicazi, equipped with the keys Hiccup had copied for her, deftly opened our gate without any hesitation. She had her sword drawn, eager for the fight. Fishlegs held a crossbow, a weapon he made alongside Hiccup. Oddly, for the largest and most physically strong member of our class, Fishlegs did not revel in using that strength. Then again, Fishlegs and Hiccup were very odd. I only had with me my axe, a weapon I have had ever since I was a little girl.

We all have had enough of Outcast Island and Alvin to last us a life time. I still failed to see how this was supposed to be less dangerous than just sneaking out and stealing a boat, but Hiccup had been adamant in wanting to free as many captives out of Alvin's hands. Even if some of them were dragons…

Which is why the first thing we did when we opened our cages was to find some more of them. Alvin had seen to it we were kept as far away from other captives as much possible, since he had plans for us, but Camicazi had spent weeks navigating these tunnels and meeting with these other captives with promises of freedom. "Hey, it's me again!" she told to one of the cages. I could see several of the captives inside already had weapons of their own. Again likely, the Bog Burglar's doing. She had opened their cell and then proceeded to work on the next. Not that I complained. I was glad to finally have allies by my side once more.

"That is a really handy skill," I told her. Part of the reason our escape was possible was because she had next to free reign once Hiccup engineered a workable excuse for her. And she was alright, if a bit immodest. Granted, I found my fighting skills have gotten to the point I could consistently beat her, since I spent all my time practicing and training. She still took those defeats in stride.

"Well, I am a master escapist. Alvin had not a chance keeping me under lock and key. I should teach you it sometime, it's real fun."

I considered that for a moment. It wasn't really dishonorable to know how to breakout of prisons or know how to pilfer things from your enemies. After all, many famous Viking heroes tended to be quite underhanded in their actions. "No," I replied. "Not something I find myself wanting to do."

"Suit yourself."

After freeing all of the captives in this section, we numbered about thirty at this point. That was not all of them though. Many of those who were too young or too old simply stayed in their cells to not be a hindrance. Only eight of us had weapons, so those of us who were armed formed a perimeter to cover the others. Fishlegs was at our rear and kept checking our backs.

"Take us to an armory!" one of the unarmed men shouted. Another added, "We need as many weapons as possible!"

"In a minute, so impatient…" Camicazi led us to one of the armories, unfortunately the Outcasts had the sense to guard it in the moment of an emergency. There were five of them in all, each holding short swords and wielding shields. The moment, those guards spotted us, they readied their weapons and moved toward us.

Fishlegs tried to shoot one of them and while he had significantly improved since he been called Berk's Worst Archer, he wasn't accurate enough to shoot away from one of the advancing Outcast's shields. I however, did not have any issues. When the Outcasts started advancing, I charged at them, leaving all of my other companions following slightly behind me.

One of them, one slightly larger and given better looking equipment than the others, likely their local leader engaged me in combat. I shouted a battle cry and swung my axe only for him to block it with his shield. He retaliated by trying to use his shield to as a weapon. I parried his sword my axe. Unfortunately for me, he was wearing heavy mail which covered most of his body, making it for me to take him on.

So I did the smart thing, and went for the hand that was holding the weapon. See, most Vikings, like him, and admittedly, I fell into this bad habit as well, forget to wear armor. He lost his fingers. He howled in agony as he dropped his sword. The pain was so great, he lost focus on the battle and I battled away his shield before he could use it to attack again. My axe hit his head and he was down.

Our fighting was going well. Camicazi parried blow after blow with her sword, while spouting insults and profanities that demoralized the Outcasts. Fishlegs kept shooting arrows, not to kill the Outcasts himself, but rather to tax their defenses and energy so that others might have an easier time. The former captives and slaves attacked them like wild animals, as that was what Alvin had reduced them to in all their time in captivity. The Outcasts that guarded the armory either fell shortly afterward, with only one survivor retreating to get back up.

Soon, those of us that were unarmed, soon were equipped with the various weapons the Outcast had employed for themselves. All of them were eager to have some Outcast blood on their hands.

"Now all we have to do is do this again," Camicazi quipped.

"Not exactly, Fishlegs, you and some of the other larger men should carry extra weapons."

"But why?" He asked.

"So we don't have to keep going back and forth to equip everyone we meet." I told him. "It saves time if we bring some extra weapons."

"Ooh, that's smart."

"Not really," I told her. "One of our blacksmiths, Gobber had a cart he would fill up with weapons every time Berk got attacked. Any random villager could just take a weapon from there and pay for it later. This is that same idea, just without the cart or the trading going along."

"Still, this is rather exciting isn't it?" Camicazi said. "This is the most fun I've ever had while being held hostage. Wait till my mother hears about this!"

"Yeah," was my only reply. I wondered… just what would happen when I returned to Berk. Undoubtedly, escaping Alvin the Treacherous was a big deal, one that theoretically came with no small amount of prestige. But breaking out of Outcast Island by helping cause the _entire_ prisoner population to break free, that was unheard of and something that was worthy of a saga. If breaking out of Outcast Island along with every prisoner there did not bring my family honor, then I do not know what else will.

* * *

After receiving Elder Gothi's advice, I had bided my time. As most of Berk's fleet was destroyed and most of my warriors were injured and fatigued after two large battles happening in close succession to each other, I had plenty of time to wait for them to recover. I spent nearly a month formulating plans and writing letters to see those would aid me. Usually, I wrote to other Chiefs and offered a sum as payment. Unfortunately, I was mostly alone in this. About the only one who had bothered to join me was Bertha, who had the same problem. Alvin had apparently captured both of her daughters, even though she only remembered one. She likes to say her daughter punched Alvin so hard, he now seen things in twos.

Currently, Bertha and I were on the second day of our joint-voyage to Outcast Island. Neither of us had the fleets or man power to break Outcast Island on our own after the battles we faced earlier in the month. But together, we could equate the strength of our old forces. The agreement we had was that we would move our full forces together. Though, I knew Bertha, would not be so honorable with her word. I had seen her send small scouting parties now and again.

It was after noon and we hid from Outcast Island, waiting for a moonless night so that we might attack. We both knew it would have been a bad idea to attack Outcast island when everyone was aware and had light enough to see our approach. Not only would that give the enemy an advantage to use siege weapons on our ships, it also gave Alvin more time to harm our children. Once the conditions were right, we would land an assault on the docks and into the tunnels.

Currently, we based ourselves on the far side of a nearby island and hid our ships behind any obstacles we could find. Our problem, however, was that we weren't the only ones planning a sneak attack.

"Snotlout, how many times have I told you that you were not allowed to come here!?" I yelled at my nephew and his companions. "Especially, not, I repeat, not with the twins." I had to give him credit. I would never have expected the three of them to spend a day inside a few food storage barrels. The only reason they were discovered was because we had coincidentally decided to open the barrel containing one of the twins, I forgot which it was, which prompted a search for all of the others.

"It's been a month!" complained Snotlout. "I haven't heard about Astrid at all until you made that announcement last week." I had informed the whole of my Tribe in a general conference that I would be saving my son, to the displeasure of many, ever since I had met with Gothi. Since then, I had been making weekly status updates for my correspondences from the other Tribes.

"And so you thought it would be a smart idea to go and drag two of your fellow classmates into danger?"

Tuffnut spoke up. "I would like to make it clear to all of you, we are not with him."

"Nope, we decided to go where the danger was without his approval." His sister, Ruffnut continued.

"So, just ignore us and we'll go back to hiding." Tuffnut replied.

"Thanks alot, guys…" Snotlout added.

"Hey, it's not our fault you decided to follow the same plan as us…" Ruffnut stated.

"I invited you to come with me!" Snotlout shouted. "And you did not bring the-you-know-what."

They argued and argued, until I could barely stand it any longer. I was not too upset at them though. No, I had way too much experience dealing with children like this to get too upset. It was deal a problem I had to deal with. Bertha and I had agreed to launch a full scale attack tomorrow night, as soon as the moon was gone. However, if I were to send the children home, whatever group and party I would send would not be participating in the battle. They would be both insulted with a "babysitting job" denying them glory and be unable to assist me.

Bertha spoke up, with a statement that did not make this job any easier. "You can barely control a bunch of rowdy teenagers, it's no wonder your son decided to go run off and get captured."

"My son did not decide to get captured." _Unless, Hiccup decided it was better to go after Outcasts instead of dragons… _I was defensive at the accusation, obviously. No parent likes to be insulted like that.

"Well, if it weren't for your son, maybe my daughter wouldn't be in this mess." The main problem with allying with Bertha was that she did blame Hiccup for her child's disappearance. This mostly had to do with Thuggory's report stating it was my son who had led the missing children.

"We don't know what happened…" I wanted to at least try to be civil. I could handle a wounded pride, so long as I had my son back. I would be fine. "But my son is not at fault!" I would have argued with her a little more, if it weren't for an interruption.

"Uh, Chief Stoick," said Snotlout, breaking away from his argument with the twins "I see a lot of dragons."

I turned up and looked at the sky and found several dragons over head. All of them were flying from the same general location. "That is a lot of dragons…" I agreed. I drew a spyglass, a gift from my son, and rapidly ran to the highest point on the island. Through my spyglass, I could see that all of those dragons were fleeing from Outcast Island. It was not a dragon raid, there were way too few of them and it was the wrong time of day. That meant that the dragons must have come from Outcast Island itself. Most Viking Tribes had a supply of captive dragons, usually a dozen or two kept for training purposes. But Alvin apparently had around somewhere over five dozen of them. Though _why_ that mad Outcast had that many to begin with was questionable. Granted, Alvin likely just sold them to the highest bidder. There were plenty of Tribes who needed dragons for many purposes, such as meat or scale.

However, what Alvin did with those dragons is not as important as the fact they were escaping. What was happening on Outcast Island? And what was happening to my son? I wish I could have done this under cover of night, but it appeared that the gods want me to attack when it was still day. "What's happening?" asked pretty much everyone all at the same time.

"Dragons are fleeing Outcast Island… Bertha, our children are in danger, we have to go, now!" She nodded in agreement. And we both ran to our boats. Our warriors, Hairy Hooligan and Bog Burglar alike rushed to their respective craft.

"Hey, you're not going without me!" yelled Snotlout who ran alongside me.

Ruffnut and Tuffnut were right beside him. "Or us!" the shouted at the same time.

It pained me to do this, but I knew I would not be able to stop them. After all, they went through ridiculous lengths just to come here. All they had to do was force themselves on the ship the moment we left and I would be stuck with them. "Alright, but you follow my orders to the letter, got that?"

Snotlout nodded, and after some consideration, the twins followed, too. I hoped I would not be regretting this descision.

* * *

What did that boy to me? All I could recall was drinking that potion and… falling. My head hurt. My body ached. Footsteps were approaching. I could not move. I could not see. I could not even breath. All I could do was hear. What has happened to me?

"Blown off the hinges." I heard a voice say. It was Savage. Finally, someone competent. My two escorts likely deserted me the moment I fell, leaving those boy to do what he wanted. Stoick's disappointment probably did not have the guts to slay me when he had the changes. Those two failures of Outcasts of mine should hope they die in a fire before meeting me again.

"Man, his back burned to a crisp!" I heard another voice say. I recognized it as someone unimportant. Finally, I was breathing again, my lungs took in air, sweet refreshing air. The burning ash was a sweet smell against my nose. Oh how, I loved the smell of fire.

"And this other one has something sticking out of his helmet… must have died before the explosion set it." I heard Savage say. Explosion? What had while I was unconscious… and why had I survived?

"Is that Alvin? Is he dead?"

"Those don' look like any burn marks I ever seen!"

"I don't think that's Alvin anymore…" How could I not be me I wondered?

I could feel my muscles become free to move once again feeling pain the escape my body. I tried to stand up. "It's moving!" Said a voice as it approached. My vision returned at this point, allowing me to see the traitor of an Outcast draw his sword and attempt to cut me down. I raised my hand in defense, but without a weapon, the warrior wounded my arm.

"You dare strike Alvin the Trecherous!" I shouted as I stood up. My bleeding arm limped for a moment from the wound.

"I'm not following a monster like you!" said the defiant warrior. I had no idea what he was talking about, but I had made my decision, I was going to kill this man as soon as I had an opportunity. I hated free thinkers. At that point, he and I looked at my wounded arm and something… unthinkable had happened. The wound sealed rapidly, blood dried, and skin reformed. "That's not possible!" _Then,_ I felt something grow on my arm, scales of some sort grew along the length of the wound and towards my hand. My hand in turn started growing massive claws, each the size of a dagger. My arm grew more muscled very rapidly. The warrior raised his weapon at me again and this time, I parried the blow using my new claws, as though I was wielding several daggers in a single hand. Then I lunged at the warrior and cut off his face using my new weapons. He fell.

"Alvin!" Savage said. "You're… alive…"

"Why wouldn't I not be?" I asked him.

"You're… kind of different… Sir…" He told me.

I started examining body, apparently, I had changed somewhat. I had apparently grown a small pair of semi-transparent wings and smalls horns atop my head. Along with much of my lower body now being covered in scales and glows. "So I have… Tell me, what's our status?"

"Not good Alvin, the whole island is engaged in battle, the prisoners, both human and dragon alike, are loose… The Heirs we captured, they threw the whole island into chaos."

"Elaborate."

"The dragons flee as soon as they could, but the human captives are still struggling to maintain a foothold."

"Good, focus on the humans then, especially the Heir. The dragons are far more trouble than they're worth."

"Yes, Alvin." As he said that, my Outcast warriors, who had stayed silent and fearful in my prescense followed my lieutenant away from me.

With my eyes being better than I ever remembered them, I realized now that the workshop that I had locked those boys in had gone up in flames… and that I was the sole survivor. That potion… worked. I had not only become stronger, but also gained the ability to heal from nearly any injury it seemed… at such a miniscule cost. After all, weak, simple humanity was virtually worthless compared to the power of being a dragon. I did not know what kind of dragon I was becoming, but that did not matter. I was going to that Stoick's little disappointment by ripping out his throat.

* * *

**For those of you who really didn't understand why I gave Hiccup such a weird transformation method. Well, that little Nightmare sequence is one of the reasons. You can't ever do things like that in a straight forward instant change. Also… the stuff about Alvin….**

**Bowling existed as far back as Ancient Egypt and Rome. It evolved a bit and was obviously a very different game than what we have today, but for the sake of comedy, I decided not to be historically accurate here.**

**Yes, there's popcorn in this setting, even though America still was not discovered by Christopher Columbus. Though I believe at this time Vikings did sail to the New World… assuming we go by real world history… HtTYD history on the other hand tends to get a bit weirder.**

**"Empty Mouth" is the dragon equivalent of saying of "Empty Handed". Dragons don't have hands and many do not have paws. All of them however use the mouth as a manipulator, so it makes sense for them to have that saying.**

**For those of you asking how the old Gronckle got captured by the Outcasts, it's not really important and won't be a plot relevant point, so I will explain it here. Way I see it, all dragons more or less can swim or in the case of a Gronckle float, because each of them has flight bladders and firegas reserves that are lighter than air. That's really the only explanation for how Gronckles can fly, too. All things considered the Gronckle, being too old to fight in raids, just floated home and got captured by Outcasts while fishing. It was merely coincidence that Toothless met him on Outcast Island.**

**Oh and when I said that this was a multi-Transformation story, I meant that it wasn't just going to be Toothless or Hiccup changing. I decided Alvin the Treacherous should get transformed, too. I don't think anyone did Alvin transforming before, so I thought it would be cool. As for what he's turning into, it's something from the books.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: Dreamworks and Cressida Cowell own the How to Train Your Dragon franchise. **

**Very serious chapter this time. And we're nearing the end of this story arc.**

**This chapter… is… wow… I may need to tone it down. You'll know what I mean. **

* * *

This was not how things should be. Today, I should have been coming home after another attempt at finding the dragon's primary Nest at Helheim's Gate. I should have been speaking to Gobber about the results of Dragon Training and hoping that my son had done well enough to make me proud. I should have been preparing for the final exam.

I was doing none of that. Today, I was attacking Outcast Island in broad day light because I had no other choice. I was allying myself with the Bog Burglars, with Bertha, of all things, because our children were being held captive in the same prison. I wasn't going to pay a ransom. No, I was going to do more than that.

I held my spyglass up, scanning the ever approaching Outcast island fortress. The dragons had mostly gone away by now, at least an hour since Snotlout had pointed out to me that they were leaving the island in droves. Now, all that was left of them were a few stragglers and, more importantly, the trail of devastation they had caused in their wake. In the distance, I could see the smoking remnants of siege catapults and trebuchets, the fires that had destroyed them only smoldering gently. That was fortunate for us as it meant that the Outcasts would be unable to sink our ships as we approached.

As our ships got closer, I learned that the dragons were not the only cause for the chaos and devastation upon the island. For now, I could see and hear the battle that still raged. I saw warriors clad in the traditional scale mailed Viking warrior garb combating men and women dressed in nothing but soiled old rags. It was not hard to guess that the latter group must have been slaves or captives that had been set free en masse. Whatever did this created great chaos and destruction. Loki must have favored me. I accepted it, trickster god or not, if it meant my son would be coming home would me.

Hooligan and Bog Burglar ships were completely unopposed as we ran our ships aground. None of the combatants noticed us until they heard the sound of oak wood scrapping across wet sand and weathered rock. This caused anyone who was not rendered deaf or dying to turn their attention towards us. As soon as Bog Burglar and Hooligan warriors began disembarking our craft, the Outcasts began making shouts of retreat and backed away from us. They did not want to face a battle on two fronts. _Smarter than I thought they would be…_

The scantily clad and weary captives, stood their ground. Either they were braver than the Outcasts or simply too tired to run. They still held their weapons firm, none of them were too tired to be enslaved again. Admittedly, I would be perfectly within my rights to take them for my own, but this was not a time for it. I did not want to make this more complicated than I needed to when my son's life was at stake. I simply needed them not against me. "I am Chief Stoick the Vast, Chieftain of the Hairy Hooligan Tribe!" I shouted as I leapt on to the ground. Behind me were Snotlout and the twins, anxious for a real battle. "I am only here for my son. Stand aside, I have no quarrel with you." This did not convince them to drop their arms or ease their guard.

I saw Bertha leap from her boat and give her own proclamation: "I am Bertha the Unsinkable, or if you prefer, 'Big Boobied' Bertha I am Chief of the Tribe of Bog Burglars. I seek my daughter, Camicazi."

At that, the some former captives eased their guard and began murmuring to each other. I could barely hear and understand it all, but I got the idea that they mostly knew who she was. "Is she really her mother? She's so big and Cami is so… small…" "I got my axe from her!" "I seen her a couple times before the big bust, who knew she was royalty?" Bertha was excited to hear the deeds that the former prisoners attributed to her daughter. Apparently, the girl had been running around Outcast Island, gathering information, and setting up a large scale revolt. Still, I wished that one of them knew anything at all about my son.

While, they were discussing and gossiping, one man stood out from the crowd. "Out of the way!" he called as he shoved his fellow captives aside. No, he wasn't a man, he was much too short, much too young. Before me, was a boy about my son's age. He looked, somewhat healthier than the other slaves, though that could just be because he wasn't broken in yet. He had dark hair and green eyes and seemed to be rather skinny. On his back was a crossbow and tied to his waist was what appeared to be a cooking pot of some sort. "Are you Hiccup's father?" he asked me.

I nodded. Whoever he was, he knew my son by name. That meant he likely knew more about what has been happening than most of the others on this rock. "Yes, I am. Now, who are you? How do you know my son?"

"I am a friend friend of his…" he told me. He was hesitant for a moment before declaring, "My name is Toothless, sir." I blinked at that. Few people were willing to declare my son his friend. I wonder what my son must have done to him.

I noticed that some of the boy's teeth appeared to be missing. He must have had a problem with losing his baby teeth when he was younger. His family must have been very uncreative in naming him. "Do you know what happened to my son?"

"And Camicazi?" I heard Bertha add. Snotlout wanted to add his own statement, but a glare from me made the question die in his mouth.

Toothless nodded. "Yes, I've been with them for the past… month." He must have been unsure for the time he spent, he might not have been aware of time passing underground, since it was common slaving practice not to let them see sunlight. "Hiccup was the one who thought of breaking open every cage on the island… He tricked Alvin into making him think he was making weapons for him, but in reality, he had been slipping the weapons to Camicazi, who gave them to the slaves…"

I just stared at the boy. My son had _deceived Alvin, _a man whose epitaph was 'the Treacherous'. And by the looks of things, it made sense. He took the talent of devastation and mayhem that the gods decided to give him and made it into a weapon. I struggled to believe that my son, the son that sometimes I regretted having, _did not need rescuing_. Maybe I should consider taking him with me more often on my voyages… "Is this true?"

"On my honor," he declared. That confirmed it.

"Where is he?" I asked.

"I do not know." My hopes were crushed upon hearing those words. I had assumed he knew where my son was given that he knew him. "I was separated from him by… a dragon, a Whispering Death. He wanted to kill me, specifically, so I had to leave to get Him away from Hiccup. Went out here as soon as I was sure he wouldn't chase after him."

I nodded. He was brave and willing to put himself in harm's way to aid my son. Whoever this Toothless was, he was definitely a friend worth having. Even better, he gave me the information that I needed. I turned to the slaves, who had been listening intently at our conversation. "So there you have it. My son-

"And my daughter-" Bertha added.

"-have set you all free, all we ask of you is to let us pass unopposed." At this, many of the former Outcast slaves eased their guards and began slowly moving out of the way. Some hesitated for a moment before following their compatriots. The last few, however gave me and Bertha a short bow before raising their weapons before falling into the ranks of Hooligan and Bog Burglar warriors. These few, I would offer a place by my side when this was all over, men that respectable were hard to come by.

As we advanced forward from the beach, Bertha and I had left a garrison on our boats consisting of roughly a third of our total forces. They would be rapidly constructing siege weapons and keeping watch over our ships. I did not want to find our boats have been reduced to rubble after the events at Fort Sinister. Snotlout and the twins advanced beside me, eager to bash some heads. Toothless went behind me, his crossbow drawn; I wanted the one who last seen my son as close to me as possible.

We approached what was a large cave that had the remains of a steel gate that was blasted off of its frame lying tattered on the ground. Based on the appearances this was one of the main entrances to the interior of their settlement. Unlike most other Viking Tribes, the Outcasts built much of their home on the insides of a massive natural underground complex of caves and tunnels. This was a cheap and practical design choice given that the Outcasts lacked much in the way of wood and dragons were an ever present threat. We advanced further, a torch in my hand. Hiccup's friend had warned us that the Whispering Death might still be a threat as he was only able to escape the dragon by running into the bright lights.

The tunnel divided into various side paths as we went forward. I ordered several squads of men to pursue each of the different directions as a few of my most trusted warriors and the kids, led by myself, went down the what appeared to be main tunnel. Most of them would undoubtedly lead to dead ends or lead back in a loop. The Outcasts designed them to be as confusing as possible to dissuade invasions. My men had orders to take anyone they found, former slave or Outcast, to the entrance when possible. Granted, I wish I brought balls of yarn to help guide my men.

Before long however, I seen several large shapes appear from the distance. They were men, based on how tall and large they appeared. In the middle of them was on man who had, for some strange reason, twin pinpricks of glowing white light where his eyes would be. "Stoick and Bertha," I heard come from the central figure. The voice was that of Alvin's but it had been warped, sounded more like a foul growl. "I was expecting some rebellious captives, never would I have thought you'd be mad enough to attack my Island at a time like this. Especially since I've been so willing to make a deal over the fate of your children."

"We know better than to trust you!" Bertha stated. "We're taking back our children and your life, you child stealing monster." For once, I agreed with her.

"You don't know the half of it," said Alvin. "Men, light the torches, I want them to see this!" Two Outcast warriors did as they were told and lit the torches by a tinder box.

The sight I beheld just caused my jaw to drop. I had heard rumors, stories even, that Alvin had a witch for a mother. Granted, this detail in of itself was not really all that impressive, especially since Gothi, the Berk village elder, technically qualified as a witch herself, and I had married into a family that reveled in the esoteric since my father in law was a skilled, albeit inaccurate soothsayer. What was important was that Alvin's mother was reputedly a very dark and cruel witch who practiced evil spells and incantations. It seemed Alvin must have been pursuing a family tradition.

Alvin was confident enough that he decided to forgo any sort of armor or clothing except for his pants, allowing us to see what had become of him. His body had been warped and twisted in many areas. As I had seen before, his eyes glowed piecing white hot. Half of his face had been consumed entirely by white scales that, if I looked closely, allowed me to see all of the individual arteries and veins that held the blood. Spike horns grew atop his head. He had grown a pair of wings, small, feeble things that had jutted out of his back. I could see his _hearts, _literally, beating inside his chest, rhythmically. Worst of all, I could see the his right hand. Covered in scales and visibly displaying the blood moving through his body, it was oversized in comparison to his whole body and featured massive black claws that I could only classify as some sort of transition between daggers and short swords. _Odin, I seek an answer. What kind of monster was Alvin now?_ All I could tell he was some strange mix of dragon and man, but not any sort of dragon I had ever heard of.

By the looks and the silence, I was not the only one stunned into silence. Alvin was an abomination, a pretty freak one at that. The only who was brave enough to speak was Toothless. "You should have died in that fire!" I heard him say. That was enough to shake off the fear and disgust I felt. _Alvin deserves to die in many fires, _I mentally added. Anyone who sets Alvin on fire deserves recognition in my book.

"Well, that didn't work now did it? I'm one hundred percent fireproof now!"

I had my sword drawn in a defensive stance. I was going to cut Alvin's head off, Odin willing that I am not yet ready to eat at his side. Alvin on the other hand had decided that offense was the best defense and was armed with his clawed right hand and his favorite hatched on the left. Everyone had their weapons drawn, all expecting a great battle unfold.

It would not come to pass. Just as we were about to fight, I heard a sound approaching overhead. It was faint at first, but as it got closer, I could hear stone being torn ground up. "Why doesn't he just leave me alone?" I heard Toothless complain, deadpan.

Rocks feel from overhead and me and the children barely had time to escape their fall. Unfortunately my students, the rocks were numerous enough and fell in such a way that it separated me and the rest of the adults. I could barely see them through the pillars of stone. Above me, I could see the face of a Whispering Death lurking in the ceiling. It must have been the same one Toothless had claimed to have escaped earlier. He fired a shot from his crossbow, only for the dragon to reel back into the protection of his tunnel and pop out unharmed. I hurled a rock at the monster, grabbing his attention. "Get out of there!"

"Damn that dragon!" Alvin shouted before starting up in a flurry of curses. The good news about the Whispering Death's cave in was that it separated Alvin from my group and the kids. I was unsure if Alvin's appearance made him stronger or gave him other abilities, but he did not seem to be willing to dig his way through the rocks.

"There's another tunnel here!" I heard Snotlout shout.

"Take it, that's an order!" I shouted. I could hear the distinct sound of footsteps take off in a sprint. The dragon however, seemed intent on following them. I wondered for a moment, what could that boy have done to make that dragon so angry?

I sighed. They were in the god's hands now. There was no way, I could help them now.

"And here I was, looking forward to beating Alvin's behind," complained Bertha.

"As I was. He has caused us much grief in the past, it is time we made him pay for it," I told her. There was another side tunnel to our left. With any luck, it would lead us to some place we could regroup. "Think we should go here?"

* * *

When I was young, I used to have night terrors. Most of them were the repetition and variants of the same event that happened so long ago.

I had been a mere hatchling playing in the woods and stalking bugs for my simple amusement. My mother was visiting a small island, one that was not so big as to have any deadly predators on it, so as long as I stayed in the woods, mother deemed it was safe for me to wander on my own. I was chasing a butterfly, a beautiful but wispy thing that had caught my fancy since I had not seen anything like it before. I ran off, after it, spending the day making foolish attempts to take it for myself.

This all stopped when I had approached the den of this Kin. A strange thing that had the body of a serpent, yet had a jaw that with many, many teeth organized in a strange almsot circular fashion. It had been dozing quietly and I in my innocent curiosity awoken it. All he did was take one look at me and mutter something under his breath before declaring to destroy me. Fortunately for me, I was smart enough to know fear and ran.

For the first time in my life, I knew what fear was. Real fear, terror. I ran and hid all over the island hoping that the larger and more powerful Kin would not destroy me. I was so young that I could not fly or swim away to safety when my hunter was not given those same restrictions. I was fortunate that I had made enough shouts of fear that my mother had heard me and come to my aid. But in those dreams, that never happened. Sometimes, I was eaten alive, other times, that Kin murdered me in brutal ways. I never went chasing butterflies again.

Meeting him for the first time in so long triggered a flash of emotions, a surge of long buried fears that reminded me how helpless I was back then. I did not want Hiccup to face that same terrors this Kin brought upon me. No, he wasn't Kin. I now had a word that was less than that. He was a _dragon. _He was not my Kin.

Earlier, I had escaped from him by running through a metal door that led to the outside. Fortunately, the sun was bright enough overhead to deter him. Whispering Deaths hated the bright light, something to do with their eyes being really bad.

When I had brought him far enough away from Hiccup, I had decided my best course of action would be to find someone who would aid me in destroying him so that I could help my friend and ally. This meant Camicazi and Fishlegs, obviously. I would never dream about asking Astrid to help me. Granted, I had failed to locate my other allies, but finding Hiccup's father was better.

In moon that I had known him, Hiccup had never told me just how important he was. I had no idea that he was related to important people in the Viking world. In a way, he was much like me, the son of a Flight Commander. This made my plan of setting myself as a diplomat that much easier. My King would be delighted.

Unfortunately, I did not have Stoick the Vast, the man Hiccup claims could strange a Monstrous Nightmare as a baby. No, I had with me three others who were in my relative age. I did not know who they were, as Stoick had not introduced them to me and Hiccup had not spoken much about the people he knew back home, though I had an idea of some of them. So they were complete strangers to me. Still, I liked our chances at taking down this _dragon._

Right now, me and my allies were running as fast as we could, that dragon was right behind us. Spikes were being thrown from its body and fortunately for me, its aim seemed very poor and kept missing us. I could see a large number of caves that used to have been former cages. That gave me a plan. "Hey, I got an idea."

"Is it any better than any of Hiccup's?" said the female of the group.

"Does it involve mauling or not?" said the male look alike. They might have been related. Hiccup had explained to me the concept of twins when I had asked him about Astrid and Camicazi. Granted, they were not twins. These two must have been Ruffnut and Tuffnut, since Hiccup had alluded to them when he described twins.

"I hope not," I replied.

"Then I don't know if that's good or bad. I little mauling couldn't hurt…" said the male.

"Lower back or upper?"

"Uh, guys, not the time for it…" said the dark haired male. He was considerably more muscled than I was so that meant he likely had more strength and better skill at melee that I did.

"Alright, he just wants me and his eye sight is poor, I want you all to break off and hide in those caves, then I want you to attack him from behind." They all gave grunts of approval. We passed by several of the caves. I picked what I felt might have been a good pair to launch the attack from. I declare. "There! Go now." the dark haired boyheaded into the cage on my right and the twins went to the left.

I had began slowing down, making the dragon inch closer so that my allies could launch the attack. I was prepared to duck out of the way in the event the dragon attacked me. Instead, however the dragon was not coming at me. _"You are a fool to discuss your own plans and tactics in front of your enemy."_ He declared. That dragon understood what I was saying and acted accordingly. He did not advance forward past the two cages where the others were. Instead, he turned to the cage that had the dark hair body. He lunged forward. I heard the sounds of the boy trying to fend off the beast that attacked him. The beast repeatedly attacked the cage, throwing spines and fire whenever appropriate.

I just stared for a moment, frozen with fear. Before I had become one of them, no Kin, no dragon, could understand at all what the Herd was saying. But this one, this Whispering Death had understood my plans and had decided that the best means of attack were to take out my allies when I had moved them out of position.

"Help me!" screamed the boy. I heard the clang of metal drop the ground. The twins, had tried stabbing and bashing the dragon with their double ended spears. They drew blood, but it was not enough to deter the monster. I snapped out of my trace just in the nick of time and shot my crossbow. This time, without paying attention to dodge out of the way, my arrow sunk into the dragon's body. It gave a satisfying shriek of agony as it jerked its head back away from the cave.

"Get away from him!" I declared. I did not even know this boy's name, but I was not going to let anyone suffer under this monster's influence ever again. I loaded another shot and fired, the beast was still too disoriented with pain to evade the shot and it sunk into flesh once more. The beast retreated, dizzy from the pain and shrieking wildly. It fled underground before I could strike at it once again. I gave a breath of relief. I had finally beaten away the monster that plagued me for so long.

The twins, approached their fallen friend, a look on their faces that reminded me of disgust. "Man, he looks gnarly." said one of them. I ran over as quickly as I could.

He was still alive. That was not something I should be cheering or celebrating. While his wooden shield had more or less protected him from most the dragon's assault, it had broken some time during the fight and had become nothing but scattered remains on the ground. One large spine had pierced his abdomen and his left hand, which he had used to protect the shield was… wrecked. It still recognizable, but covered in blood. "Did we get him?" He said. His eyes we barely open. I shuddered at the sight.

"Yeah," I lied.

"No, we didn't…" I glared at the male twin to stop talking.

"Yeah, the dragon's gone," said the female.

"That's good then…" Hopefully he was not able to understand. "At least my dad wouldn't say it's my fault again." No, of course not. It was my fault.

I made the decisions. I had underestimated the enemy. I might as well have been the Whispering Death myself for all the good I had done to him. The boy struggled as he tried to pull the spine out of his gut for a moment. I tried to stop him, knowing that it just would have made things worse. But for his efforts, he gave a scream of pain and exposed the bleeding wound as he removed the spine with a few hard tugs. That might have done more harm than good as began bleeding more. I wish I had studied the path of the healer now, for I did not know enough to save his life.

What was wrong with me? I was lamenting over the fact I had made one of the Herd die, a stranger. A moon ago, I would have been parading that kill as though it were a favored trophy, now I was weeping and wishing for a means to save his life. _Look how far I had fallen…_

But I did have one. It had been the whole point Hiccup had given it to me in the first place. I reach down to my… belt and drew the cooking pot that I had been carrying around me for much of the day. It was still bizarrely warm to the touch, even though it had not touched fire for several hours at this point. With any luck, it was still potent. Hopefully, enough to save his life. I had no doubt that it would change him, but Hiccup had plans to undo the potion's effects on himself. Temporary existence as a dragon was no doubt preferable to dying wasn't it?

By now, the boy had been barely conscious and only groaning in pain. All I had to do was pour it in his mouth and he would likely survive. I did not get the chance to do so before being rudely interrupted. "Snotlout!" shouted a very familiar voice that I had not been expecting. It was Astrid. "What have you done to him?" she demanded as I turned to her. Fishlegs and Camicazi were with her, no one else. The Viking female held her trusted axe, mostly for defense, but I knew it also meant a means to threaten me. Given how close she was to me, she could end me before I could fire a shot.

"A Whispering Death did this to him… "

She turned to the twins who simply nodded in confirmation. "Now, why are you going to give him _that? _I know what it is..." Astrid had protested to Hiccup's plan of allowing me to drink the potion to return myself to my Flight, but she did not actively try to prevent it.

"He's dying…" And it was all my fault. "I want to save him…"

"Since when did you care about any of us?" She asked. It was a very valid question. Since when did I care about the fate of anyone else? Most Kin of mine, I did not care lived or died, but then again, most Kin were not threatened by death due to my mistakes.

"Does it matter?" I dodged the question.

"Yes, it does!" She responded. "You're not one of us, so why do you care about us? Any of us?"

"Because… it is my fault." I admitted. She seemed to listen thoughtfully. Maybe it was just my imagination. I just had to tell her why I did this. "Listen to me, Astrid, I made a mistake, it cost him. I have to fix this…Hiccup aided me even when I was a mere stranger, I should be willing to do the same…"

Astrid thought on my words for a moment. Her eyes narrowed on to mine, I stared back. Then unexpectedly, she lowered her axe. "If you give Snotlout that potion, you're going to be slowly turning him into a dragon. We all know how badly that messed with Hiccup… Do you really want him to suffer through that?"

"It's better than dying… Besides, Hiccup has a plan to cure himself…"

"And what if it doesn't work?" She asked.

I did not know the answer to that, but I knew what she was getting at. When I would give the boy the potion, he would become my responsibility, my charge. Whatever happened to him, it became my duty. "Then…I don't know… I'll try…"

"Would you… be around to help him? What would you be willing to give up to aid him?" I knew what she was getting at. She wanted to know how far I was willing to go to make amends.

"Then… I won't drink the potion for myself… not until he either releases me from my responsibilities or until I can undo his changes…" _Or get him to like being… a dragon. _I mentally added.

"Do you really mean that?" said Astrid. "Do you _swear _it?"

My King still thought I was dead and the only two who knew I was still alive was the old Gronckle who was likely swimming his way back to the Nest right now and the Whispering Death who wanted me dead. Chances were, I could afford to stay human a little while longer. After all, all it took was an arrow to turn me one of them. How hard would it be to use that same method to cure them? I nodded. "On my honor."

She seemed to consider he words for a second, I know I was doing the same for my own. Astrid knelt down by Snotlout, who was in a blood loss induced daze. I hoped that I was not too late to save him. She was looking him over and finally made her descision. "Snotlout's not going to last much longer, Toothless," I blinked. She rarely referred to me by name. Always just 'you' or some other impersonal term. "You better save him."

I knelt down to the one called Snotlout. It was strange that I knew his name only after he was nearly dead. I opened the lid of the pot, revealing the glowing mixture that was contained within. It was no longer as hot and bright as it used to, but I could _feel_ some of that potency. I poured it gently into the boy's mouth, careful not to spill anything. It was fortunate for me that he was unconsciously swallowing it down. It took maybe a minute or so for him to drink the entire pot, which then promptly disintegrated the moment the last droplets went into his mouth. It was surprising to say the least. Hiccup had been worried that the pot would be eaten through by the potion, but that clearly did not happen until the last drops were gone. I wondered how that it worked like that, because it defied logic. Why did suddenly removing the potion destroy the pot? Power never made any sense…

Of course, none of us really cared much for it. None of us, aside from Fishlegs, had ever _seen _the process of healing and transformation before. Our jaws were dropped in awe as we saw the wounds on Snotlout's body scab over and replace wounds with corresponding sets of scale or deep, blood red scale. The hole in Snotlout's gut had sealed itself up and merely grown a large portion of scales to cover up the wound. His left arm however, suffered a slightly more drastic change. The whole thing became covered in scales, as was expected, but the damage had also warped the hands, making nails turn into claws, and made the hand somewhat meatier. I think he might have also grown slightly larger, but that was harder to tell. He was breathing more regularly and peacefully now. He was no longer dying or dead and his face seemed to be less pale.

We stood there, silently; all contemplating what happened. Snotlout was still alive, still living. Then the silence was broken by the male of the twins, "Wow, I gotta get me one of those." It was strange, I always ran into people who were open to the idea of willing changing themselves into dragons. Granted, most of them were oddities and by traditional Viking standards, but the fact remained that they were still there.

"Yeah," replied his sister. "It's cool. Maybe we'd end up like Alvin, with those massive dagger claws of his..."

"Wait, Alvin took the potion, too!?" asked Astrid. I had forgotten to mention that since we were all so busy.

"I know," complained Camicazi, "Why is it all of the boys keep turning into dragons?" Camicazi, if she was being truthful at the time had displayed interest in being a Changewing.

"Yeah," I said, "We met Alvin earlier… I don't even know what he is… Massive claws, transparent skin that let you see his blood flowing around, two hearts… Never heard or seen anything like that…" Which was saying something. As one of the Kin and as the son of a Flight Commander, I naturally was educated to know and recognize each and every breed in the King's domain. Whatever this Alvin had become was outside of that knowledge.

"This could be bad, never heard of anything like that either." Fishlegs added. He was the only one I knew who probably knew as much about my Kin as could be possible without being one himself. "Aren't you supposed to know like… everything about dragons?"

"I'm not a bard," I replied. Bards were tasked with keeping the knowledge of the Kin, usually in song format. I wonder if the Herd had anything of that sort. "Anyways, we gotta get out of here..."

"Speaking of that What are they doing here? And why are you with them?" Astrid gestured to Snotlout and the twins.

"I met them on the beach, along with Hiccup's father and Camicazi's mother… plus their whole fleets."

"Ooh, my mum's here?" Camicazi cheered. "Wait til she sees the things I stole while I was on vacation!" At that I gave a slight chuckle. Camicazi, to her credit, essentially had more or less free reign around Outcast Island.

"I guess the cavalry has arrived…" Astrid said.

"So we're not doomed?" Fishlegs asked.

"Maybe, maybe not… that Whispering Death might still be around, so stay on your guard. Say, why are you here anyways?" I asked.

"Once we got through freeing as many prisoners as we could, we tried to find an exit, but we heard someone screaming, so we came to investigate… When we came… you kinda already drove the dragon away…" Astrid told me, before instructing the others. "Fish, I recommend carrying Snotlout. Camicazi, lead the way. Ruff, Tuff, you're with me… Uh Toothless… keep watch of the rear…" I blinked. That was an important task and _she _ was giving it to me. Watching the rear was an important job, one of the most important tasks in any Hunting party. Aside from that, those who were in the rear had an excellent vantage point to betray the whole group. Maybe I had already died. Why did she suddenly trust me, now? Was it because of Snotlout? More likely she didn't and thought I would get killed sooner if I was in the back. Yeah, that was a rational. Either that, or she trusted the twins _even less_ than me… Was that even possible?

Fishlegs did as he was told and deftly picked up the sleeping part-dragon boy. Camicazi skipped ahead of the rest of the group. I brought up the rear silently watching for signs of danger and checking our rear every few steps. In the end, it did not matter Astrid's reasons for giving me this task. I would fulfill them. I was still a Squire, a warrior.

Up ahead, I could see a light. Maybe escape was just around this corner.

* * *

For the first time in a month, I was using my left eye to see things. I had to discard the eye patch I had constructed from my old and now torn pants. Thankfully, Alvin had seen fit to provide me with a replacement pair, an eye patch, and a laundering service since I was such a valuable asset. The eye I had was clearly meant for a nocturnal creature, given that it had a much wider range of vision even in near complete darkness. I had to admit, that was pretty cool if a bit… strange. My human eye was effectively near blind in the darkness.

After Toothless had run off, I had made myself busy by opening any dragon cages as I could find. None of the other dragons seemed to even acknowledge my existence and just wanted to escape as soon as they could. Not that I could blame them, being locked up and given only enough to stay alive only to await whatever fate Alvin decided of them. I wanted to same thing.

Unfortunately for me, I had realized that I made one tiny error in my plan. I forgot to make a map. I had been so paranoid in fearing Alvin would catch on to my plans, I had forgotten to ask Camicazi to take the time to write guidelines of some sort to give me a way out. Once I had finished open the last cage I could find, which contained a lone Monstrous Nightmare that barely fit inside the cell Alvin put him in, I had realized I had wandered very far from the path that I had known. On top of that, I had no idea where any of the exits were.

So I spent what must have been a few hours, wandering in the darkness, encountering no one, dragon or Outcast. That was a mixed blessing. On one hand, I would not be in any dangerous situations or at the mercy of murderous Vikings. This was good because, I was only armed with a simple knife. On the other, I was still lost and I could not ask anyone for directions for protections.

The gods must still not have decided what to do with me. I did not know what to do with me either.

My heart almost froze when I had seen a series of lights approaching me in the tunnel up ahead. Someone was coming to me. They were either Outcasts or former slaves. If they were the former, I was doom; if they were the later, I was saved. Until I knew who they were, I needed to hide. Spotting an empty jail cell, I opted to hide behind the walls. As long as they did not look inside it, I would be free to decide what to do.

As they got closer, I began to recognize the one who was leading them. "Dad?" There was also a large blonde woman behind him, likely Camicazi's mother, Bertha. I heard stories about how many had suffocated in her embrace… Camicazi did not confirm or deny those rumors. Strange how Camicazi was so small, yet her mother was so large. Then again, most of my friends were not exactly as big and buff as any of our parents…

"Hiccup?" the man in the front said. "Is that you? Where are you?" I realized that the cave was so dark that he likely could not see me without the ability to see in the dim lights. I hid my draconic eye behind my eyepatch once again.

"It's me!" I yelled. "I'm just up ahead."

"Hang on, son! We're coming to get you!"

"No dad!" I yelled in respond. I only wanted him to see what had become of me… Assuming that I decided to show him that his son was now covering in black scales. "Just you, please!"

Even in the darkness with only one eye, I could see my father was gesturing the warriors behind him to stop. At least there were some times, when my father listen to me… now seemed to be one of them. The gods must really be favoring me today.

As he approached the cage I was in, I told him. "In the cage."

"What're you doing there?" He said as he turned to look at me. He held a simple torch that allowed him to see that I had an eye patch and worn a pair of oversized, almost clownish boots. He was looking at them, but

"I thought you were Outcasts so I was hiding…" I replied. My father nodded, understanding.

"It's good to see you again, my son." Then my father came up close to be and wrapped one of his arms around me. The feeling was mutual. I had missed my father. Hearing those words brought some measure of relief and comfort into my body. I held him.

"I missed you too dad…"

I could hear him chuckle a little. "I've heard what you did to Alvin…" he said.

"Wait, how?"

"Oh, I met your new friend." He must have meant Toothless. "He told me everything." Everything? What did that mean. Did Toothless reveal his not so human origins or tell my father about the potion that started this mess? Then again, Toothless was not a fool. Not compared to me at least. No, I was jumping to conclusions. None of that stuff related to Alvin much at all. My dad must simply have thought he had learned everything when Toothless told him about Alvin. Still, I should learn what he had meant.

"Er, what do you mean, dad?"

"Oh nothing much, heard from your friend that you been pulling the wool over Alvin's eyes," he said, a slight grin on his face. "Nice work setting his whole island to the flame. Now, we finally have something to talk about."

I think I was blushing. My dad was… proud of me. And that wasn't even what I was going for in the first place. I just wanted to retrieve my book back and get as far away from Alvin as possible. I've been waiting so long to hear him tell me something like this, now he had. "Uh… yeah."

"And by the looks of things, you and Toothless had tried hard to kill Alvin, such a shame that didn't work," my father said. It was mostly an acident and us running away from an explosion, we never really did try to kill Alvin. Well, if Toothless had not blown up the workshop, maybe I could have done something to him, maybe. My atherh ad also confirmed that Alvin was alive, based on his word choice. Hopefully, that Outcast was nothing but a burned wreck. "Is that where you got that battle scar of your's?" He said as he looked into my eyes. He was talking about my eye patch.

"Er, no, Alvin did that to me when he caught us."

"May I see it?"

"No!" I responded abruptly. I did not want him to see my eye or any of the other parts of my body that are…tainted. Not when I finally had his approval. No, he would disown me in a heartbeat if he knew. I called down slightly before adding, "I don't like to talk much about it."

"What's wrong, son? It's a battle scar. A badge of honor. You should be proud to have gotten one, especially since you got it from such a dangerous enemy."

Technically, my eye was a counted as a combat obtained injury, but I knew that it did not mark me a hero. "It's nothing I should be proud about…"

"Oh, so… Alvin gouged out your eye?"

"Er, no, not exactly." Ew, the thought of that sounded really gross. It would have been even worse if my eye _still_ regrew in the socket.

"Oh… well, if it really bothers you that much, I won't force you to show it then…" I sighed at that. My father at least understood that I had to have something remain private. All I had to do was get the special arrow I gave to Fishlegs and cure myself and dad would never have to know I was a monster. And all things considered, I had earned the respect of my father and probably as a good portion of the fleet by demolishing Alvin's base of operations. Things were finally looking up for me in the world.

_I really should not have thought that. _Just as soon as I had finished my thought, some force grabbed my father and rammed his face into the nearest wall. It was Alvin and he looked … like a monster. That was what all I had to look forward to if I never cured myself. Alvin pinned my father into the wall, using his still mostly human left arm to do so. The potion much have made him freakishly strong. I've heard screaming in the tunnels on both sides. The Bog Burglars and Hooligans my father brought advanced cautiously as there were Outcasts around me and my father.

"Oh, Stoick, your son is such a piece of work. I've been meaning to take Heirs captive for some puny ransom, but your little disappointment delivered you right into my hands…" He said as he squeezed my father's throat. My father tried to break himself free from the wall, but Alvin was just too strong.

"Damn you and your sorcery, Alvin," coughed my father.

"Oh, I wasn't responsible." said the Outcast. "Your little boy here is the one who brew the potion, that precious little elixir that made me near invincible. I think I'll have him brew a few more potions later, might work wonders on Savage… But for now, I think I'll slowly crush your windpipe." I was paralyzed with fear. My father was going to die and there was little I could do to stop him. On top of that, my dad now knew that I was responsible for making Alvin… into this whatever he was.

But as Alvin's grip was slowly killing my father… I realized, I would not have another chance. I drew my knife and leapt on top of the former Outcast. "Let go of my father!" I howled. I had not had melee combat training for most of my little vacation, but I still had the enhanced physical abilities granted to me by the potion. But I did not need to plunge a knife into Alvin's left shoulder blade. His hand jerked in pain and released its grip upon my father.

"How dare you!" screamed Alvin. He tried to wildly shake me off, but the tiny wings on his back proved to be a great place to grab on to. The Outcast escorts Alvin brought along were not able to reach me as their leader flung himself around like a madman. They were too scared to approach him. Eventually though, he wised up and simply grabbed my left hand and tossed me onto the floor. It hurt plenty, but it provided my father the time he needed to recover.

Before Alvin could follow up throwing me onto the ground by crushing my skull beneath his feet, my father drew his sword and rammed it through Alvin's rib cage. "I've always know you were a monster, Alvin. Now, I just have an easier time seeing it!" And with a single stroke, sliced open the monstrous Outcast's guts. Alvin toppled to the ground. I think I saw some intestines. Then as soon as my father had done away with Alvin, he picked up one of the Outcast soldiers over his head and threw him on his compatriots. This gave my father enough time to pick me up and make off with me.

"We are leaving!" he yelled to his men and Bertha's women. Bog Burglars only allowed women to be warriors. "Fall back to the main entry way." Given the size of the forces involved, dad likely wanted to move to a more defensible position. My dad might be a Viking, but he knew plenty strategy and tactics. His objective was me, therefore he had to ensure my safety. He might have also felt that these conditions, this dark tunnel was too dangerous a place to put me under.

"Well, you heard him, time to go!" Bertha shouted in compliance.

I groan in pain. My back hurt. I had no time or willingness to resist my father picking me up and hauling me over his shoulder. This gave me a perfect view of the Outcast chasing after us and the warriors who were guarding our escape.

It also allowed me to see Alvin standing up from the large gut wound my father had given him. I could see his eye, white pinpricks of hate focus at me intently. I wanted to scream and yell that Alvin was still alive, but my throat felt heavy. That throw Alvin did to me, must have hurt more than I thought if I was suffering from it this badly. I just hoped it would not lead to any drastic changes… I could feel my back getting better, recovering. Hopefully, dad thinks that me being in tip top shape after being thrown by Alvin is a miracle from Freya or Baldur and not the results of a magic potion. Though given that Alvin told my dad about it, it was only a matter of time he figured it out.

Given that no one else seemed to be taking note of Alvin rising out of a pool of his own blood, it was clear they were too busy fighting to notice.

We had arrived at the main entry way, which was a tunnel that was slightly larger than any of the others I had seen on my stay here. Being on Outcast Island for a month, I had seen far too many tunnels for my liking. There was also a rather large pile of rubber and stone in the main hallway. I wondered what could have possibly made that. My father set me against a wall some distance away from where my father intended the confrontation to take place. "You stay safe son, your dad's only going to be busy for a few more minutes." At this moment, I heard Outcasts fighting against Bog Burglars and Hairy Hooligans at around the entrance to the tunnel we just left.

"Alvin's alive," I finally managed to groan. The pain in my back was finally subsiding and thankfully, I did not grow wings or a tail or something.

"What?" my father gasped.

"He's still alive," I wheezed. "I saw him get up when we made our escape."

I saw my father's face turn pale. For the first time in my life, I had seen him legitimately afraid. He had just disemboweled Alvin after all and for most people and dragons, that was a death sentence. To not only life from that, but also stand up from such a life threatening injury shocked him to the core. Whatever the potion I drank was, it was clearly potent if it allowed a man to survive that. "I don't believe you," my father said. I didn't want to believe me either. "Alvin can't have survived, let alone stood from that."

"Alvin isn't human anymore," I said, my voice becoming more even, steady.

"How do we kill him?" he asked me.

That was a very good question. Alvin was going to hunt us down and even if we escaped, that would not stop him from just invading Berk while being seemingly invincible. How does one stop a rampaging half-dragon half-Viking monstrosity that could heal from just about anything? I thought about that for a moment, realizing that I already had the answer.

"We make him human again…" I said.

My father looked at me skeptically. "How do you intend to do that?"

"Fishlegs has it," I told him. "If we find him, we can turn Alvin human again…"

"Now why would Fishlegs… have that?" He questioned. I was keeping too many secrets hidden from him and now he was getting suspicious. It was only a matter of time before he realized truth. And just killed me. I… had to come clean. I had to admit the truth. My dad deserved better than me anyways.

"Because dad," I said, my tone even. I was no longer struggling to speak, no longer dizzy from the pain of being thrown like a rag doll. I stood. I was Hiccup the Useless. I was the weakest and least physically fit Viking on Berk. I should not be able to stand up, yet I did. I lifted my eye patch, showing him the reason I had waned to hide it. "I'm not human anymore, either."

"My son," my father said, his tone of confusion and revulsion. He used his free hand to reach to my face and touch the faint coating of scale. I did not deny him this time. He wanted it all to be a trick of the eyes, nothing but an illusion. I dreamed it was that way too. "What has happened to you?"

"Alvin and I both drank potions that would make us… stronger." I said. "And before you ask when and why, that stuff does not really matter right now. Point is, I've been researching on a way to fix… this." I pointed at my dragon eye ball.

My father's look had become rather grim. I was expecting him to banish me or execute me any moment now. I was a disgrace, a monster. Every bit of it just like Alvin. "Son," he said in the most serious tone he could manage. "We'll talk about this later, alright?" I nodded. "Then, all we need to do is find your old friend, Fishlegs. Let's go."

I put my eye patch back on my face again and turned my attention to battle at the doorway.

The battle was starting to look grim. I could tell the men (and women) had became demoralized when I started to hear the warrior's shouts of, "Alvin lives!" followed by questions of "How is that possible?", then followed by shouts of "Kill him again!". It was a good thing that I told my father about Alvin when I could, as he was not shocked to the core seeing that the unkillable monster that was Alvin.

Alvin had gotten a lot considerably more dragon-like in the span of what must have been a half hour. He was practically covered head to toe in that freaky transparent scale that let you see veins and arteries. His wings had become somewhat larger as well. He fought against Hooligan and Bog Burglar warriors using his clawed right hand in conjunction with his axe wielding relatively human left hand. With both of these weapons, he tore through the lines of warriors as though they were butter. Many fathers and mothers were going to eat at Odin's side tonight.

"Bertha!" my father said. "We need to talk!"

"Oh finally, you decide to show up, once the hard parts has been done and over with." Shouted Bertha, who had more or less been commanding the battle since I distracted my dad. "And why retreat, Outcasts are dropping like flies.

"Alvin's some sort of monster now and he's tearing through our ranks like they were not even there." my father said. "My son's got an idea that'd take Alvin down."

"No," Bertha turned to me. "It was your fault my Camicazi ended up in Alvin's hands. I'm not going to forgive that, that easily." Hopefully, Camicazi could convince her of how thoroughly she enjoyed her stay in Alvin's care.

"Look, I just need to find Fishlegs," I told her. "I need you to buy as much time as possible."

Bertha snorted. "Well, if that's all you need…" She turned to her warriors. "Bogs! We exit the cavern on my mark! Perpare"

"Hooligans, we take this fight to the mouth of the cave along with Bertha! Hold the line until we fall back." My father shouted. I saw the reason of what my father's plan was. He planned to use numerical superiority to wear down a significantly stronger opponent. Aside from that, I did not know if Alvin could survive a direct hit from dedicated siege weapons. Maybe that silver arrow would be redundant. My father pointed at down the tunnel. "That's the main entrance, you better take that route out. If anyone's found your friends, they'll be out there!" said my father.

I ran out the direction my father instructed. The Viking warriors were slowly following me out there. The unfortunate thing about mismatched legs is that it causes their owner to have a really awkward time moving. I had gotten used to one of them being... different in the past month, but they still made me fall and trip every now and again. Such as right now, a very important moment where ever second counted. I fell, just at mouth of the tunnel. I had dreamed about seeing the daylight for the first time in a month and now, here it was. I did not time to enjoy it, I had work to do.

"Hiccup!" cried a few voices. I looked up and I saw the source. It was my friends. The ones that I had spent the past month in the same room with. It was a relief to finally see that they were fine. Toothless held one of the last crossbows we had made together, Astrid had her axe, Camicazi fashioned her sword, and Fishlegs… was carrying a dozing Snotlout who was wrapped in a heavy blanket. Tuffnut and Ruffnut were also here and they were having a little brawl. I wondered how they got here. I decided I would ask them later, right now was not the time.

"Guys!" I said, "Alvin's coming." This got everyone's attention, including the twins, who just froze mid fight. I looked around and seen that a makeshift sort of base camp had gathered around the tunnel entrance. I also got the attention of at least a few dozen warriors. "Fishlegs, we need that arrow of mine."

"But aren't you going to use it on… yourself?" he muttered that last part squeamishly.

"Yes, Alvin's coming. My dad's slowing him down right now, but I need that arrow," I told him. "It's our only shot to kill Alvin."

Astrid stepped in. "Well, you heard him. This place is about to become a war zone…" Not that it technically wasn't already. "Anyone who isn't willing to fight," She looked at Fishlegs intently, I knew him enough he did not like to fight if he could avoid it. "Or had more important responsibilities, should step out…" Fishlegs nodded and pulled out the arrow from his belt and handed it to Astrid. It was still in good condition. At that point, Fishlegs carried Snotlout, still wrapped up in that blanket, out of the area and to the ships docked on the beach.

"You want me to handle it?" asked Toothless to Astrid.

"Yes. Toothless, you're our marksman, the moment Alvin show up you take him down." I blinked. Astrid was trusting Toothless to shoot Alvin? Was I in a dream again? While, I was slapping myself to make sure I had not gone completely bonkers, the shield maiden handed the former dragon the silver arrow.

Normally, someone would reprimand a teenager like Astrid for barking orders to older and more experienced Viking warriors, but given that she was doing a relatively good job, no one minded. That plus, she was more or less one of the best Vikings in my age bracket. She had a lot of fans.

"Hiccup!" cried a voice in the cave. My father was speaking to me. "We can't hold them much longer, we're pulling out now!"

Warriors came pouring out of the entrance, mostly the wounded at first. Slowly, progressively less injured warriors followed them, only stopping when those who had barely had a scratch or who were too stubborn exiting the tunnels. This meant that Bertha and my father were the last ones to leave, as they were both.

Me and my friends held our breaths. All of our gazes had turned towards the entrance. I had a sword that I had pulled from a crate somewhere. I was not going to abandon my friends, not here, not ever. It was my plan, my idea, my mess that had started this all. I had to see it through. My father and Bertha were right beside us. It was now or never.

The first one out was Alvin, as was to be expected. He had not changed much at all. It was likely he was just so lethal that no one hurt him much since I did. Toothless did not hesitate to shoot him, aiming for one of his hearts. I had to admit, for a former dragon, he was a very good shot. Unfortunately for me, Alvin was better at defending. He caught the arrow and stopped it from entering into his chest. He laughed as he tossed it aside. "You think a puny arrow could kill Alvin the Treacherous? Well, we'll see about that. Outcasts, charge!" At the sound of his voice, Outcasts began pouring out of the cave entrance. Alvin, himself, began running at my a battle to meet my father and Bertha in combat.

Mostly, I was just defending Toothless as shot at Outcasts with his crossbow. Astrid was beside me and knocking the living day lights out of two swordsmen at once. The twins attacked the same foes in unison and knocked them off balanced. Meanwhile Camicazi, ran through the ranks and grabbed the attention of any warriors that could be annoyed by her taunts, just to provide others with an opening to attack. Even in the midst of all this, I had enough time to make an important observation.

There was no finesse or strategy in this action, Alvin was attacking us from a position of weakness. Outcasts poured out from the main entrance and only the main entrance. There was no back attacks, no sabotage, no nothing. Meanwhile, the Hooligans and Bogs set up a defensive formation all around the cave entrance, giving a favorable position advantage to our side. Every two Outcast warriors would be facing three Hairy Hooligans and or Bog Burglars. Alvin must have really thought he was invincible if he was making a strategic error like that.

Which was very close to the truth. Alvin was fighting both my dad and Bertha without any back up. He was too strong for them and simply did not care about injuries. Every cut my father or Camicazi's mother landed on him rapidly healed away and just made Alvin that much more lethal. At the rate they were going, Alvin would murder them if I did not act now. They were just barely hanging on, making slices and lunges, only for their attacks to be not as effective as they hoped.

"Guys, Alvin's wearing my dad and Bertha down, we have to help them!" I called out to them. Astrid and Toothless were the first to take notice. The others listened in at around the same time.

"Kinda busy right here!" cried Astrid she said as she evaded a blow from a sword and followed up with a counter attack. That felled the warrior. "Okay, so what's the plan?"

"We get that arrow and hit Alvin with it!" I said. I had a clear idea of where Alvin had thrown the arrow. With any luck it had not been trampled on. Unfortunately, it was very close to the battle where between the two masters of warfare and a monster. Ruffnut, Tuffnut, annoy any Outcasts that gets in our way." It was a dangerous situation and as crazy as the twins were, I did not want to be responsible for killing them. But at the very least, I knew they would enjoy this task.

"You're in luck, you're asking the world's most annoying man!" Tuffnut said as he charged ahead, drawing the attention of any Outcasts by making faces and rude remarks.

"Pft, I'm the world's most annoying woman," added Ruffnut, who also did the same thing. "That's… better than most annoying man right?"

I just shook my head. The twin's distractions apparently worked well enough to allow us to pass through a column of what must have been fifteen Outcasts relatively unmolested.

"Astrid, Camicazi, buy us some time!" I told the two lookalikes. They leapt into the sword fight against Alvin. If anyone else was skilled enough to fight that monster and live to tell the tale, it was them. For the most part, I could see that their addition helped the adults by drawing as much attention from the Outcast Chief.

I began searching the area around near the fight against Alvin, Toothless did not need orders. He was guarding me and began shooting at anyone that got the wrong ideas. And just then, I had found it. The silver arrow, the one that I had made just so I could become myself again. Now, I was going to make Alvin a mere man once more. So far, this impromptu plan was working.

That was when things just started going wrong. I felt a sharp pain enter my rear. I groaned in pain as some unknown force struck the base of my spine. "Hiccup!" I heard everyone I knew call around me.

"I knew you'd that! You're too predictable sometimes, you know that?" Alvin laughed. "I don't know what's so special about that arrow of your's, but my trusty axe don't like it!" I could barely turn my body enough to see what was happening. It should be fairly obvious that it hurt. Apparently, the sudden viciousness and surprise of my injury had brought pause to the conflict between the Chiefs and us kids. More than any other physical injury I ever receive. And the worst part of it was, I knew I would get better. I knew I would change, I knew I would survive. Right here, where everyone could see it.

Yelling, Astrid had lunged at him with her axe in a strike full of anger and vengeance. But it was all for naught. Alvin, stopped the axe mid swing, grabbing the blade, not even caring the blood that splattered down on the ground. With a kick, he shoved Astrid down on the ground, holding her axe in her hand. And then with a single motion of his powerful claws, he split the axe's head into two gnarled pieces. Astrid's face gone pale as she seen the last reminder of a long dead uncle fall uselessly into the ground. She was devastated.

That tore it. I did not care anymore. If I was to be a monster, then so be it. I was going to kill Alvin, even at the cost of my humanity. No one hurt my friends like that, especially not Astrid. I then began struggling to yank Alvin's axe out of my buttocks. It was fortunate that it was angled in a way just so that I could reach it.

I saw Toothless in the mean time fire a normal arrow at Alvin. Alvin could not evade or catch it this time as he was too preoccupied with trying to fend off Bertha, Camicazi, and my father. It pierced his left arm. Alvin gave a slight groan of pain as he found that his still human arm fell limply on his sides. Hastily, the Outcast tore the arrow from his flesh, again throwing it on the ground. With his left arm incapacitated for the time being, that gave the other combatants enough time to keep the pressure on him.

I had finally tore the axe from my rear, I gave a scream of pain. I held Alvin's axe in my left hand with the arrow in my right. Toothless was too busy to be of any help, so now I had only myself to strike down Alvin. That was fine by me. Camicazi and Bertha apparently had the same fighting style that revolved around trash talking and demeaning the enemy at a thousand words a minute. My father made precise strikes with his sword, using the two Bog Burglars to provide openings. That all ended when the left arm was healed and transformed. It became a perfect copy of the right, a clawed monstrosity that was powerful enough to tear even steel apart.

With his new found weapon, Alvin found it was much easier to defend than ever before. He turned the tables, pressuring all three melee combatants away from him. One by one, he shattered their weapons, just as he did with Astrid. Each time, it only got easier. To make up for the loss of his sword, my father picked up a wooden plank and started to bludgeon him with it. Astrid in the meantime, finally snapped out of the trance that the loss of her axe brought her and started throwing rocks against the monster. Toothless, though his crossbow was unharmed had run out of ammunition and started to join in with Astrid.

At this time, I felt my legs once again. I could also feel something slowly growing on the base of my spine, a new apendage. I had been fearing this for a long time, but it would not matter. Not now. I stood, much to the shock of anyone who did not already know of my secret. I screamed the pathetic little scream that I had, and charged at Alvin, brandishing his axe.

I knew the charge was doomed to failure from the beginning. Even though both of us had drank the potion, I was still much younger and much weaker than my enemy. Alvin didn't so much as deign to fight me. Instead he just sheathed, yes sheathed his claws and grabbed me by the neck. "Shouldn't you be a cripple for life, boy?" he asked. He pulled his axe away from my hands in a single motion. This again stopped my father, Bertha, and my friends from attacking the Outcast.

"Just as much as you should be treating third degree burns." I told him, barely able to speak with his hold over my throat. The thing about expecting failures, is that since you know that they fail, you make plans to put them to your advantage. I jabbed Alvin's arm with my silver arrow. He dropped me on the ground as green flames, the same fires that I had seen consume Toothless when we had first met surrounded him.

I was expecting him to return to human form so that my father could beat him. Instead though, I saw something worse. The fire was not as fast and far spreading as the one I had seen on Toothless that night. Instead, this fire had only consumed the Outcast's pirate's arm and parts of his sides. The fire subsided quickly, revealing what had happened. Alvin had not become human at all. Instead, it seemed like the parts of his body that were consumed by the magical fire were starting to fall apart. The hand-paw hybrid thing that had grabbed hold of me had dropped to the floor. "Damn you, boy," spat Alvin, cringing his teeth. Apparently, this state causing him great pain and best part was it was not healing. At least, not super quickly as it would have before the arrow.

"Alvin!" cried one of the Outcast warriors in the far back, a smaller looking man than most Outcasts. "We have to get you of here. Outcasts, defend Alvin!" At that moment the Outcasts that had survived the battle were all converging their location towards Alvin and me. They blocked me from my friends and family.

"Just a moment, Savage, I just need to give them a little something to distract them with..." I could see Alvin was eying my legs. He placed his huge, muscled feet on my knee caps. I want to forget what happened there. It hurt plenty. So not only was I starting to grow the stub of a tail, I was also going to need new legs.

My father called to me, "Hiccup!" By the time he had got to me, the Outcasts had already left me on the ground. He held me, looking into my eye to see if I was still there. He was falling right into Alvin's plan. If he had killed me, my father would have followed him until he killed Alvin, but doing this… he made sure that my father would stay behind. There must have been a proverb somewhere that described this scenario. Alvin could have taken me hostage again, but given the damage I caused him, he likely did not want to change it.

"I'm alright dad," I coughed. Some Bogs and Hooligans followed after them, but chances were, Alvin was going to get time enough to lick his wounds. "I just need to rest a bit…" I looked him with my sole exposed eye, tired of the day. Tired of the fighting. Tired of the struggle. I just wanted to get some rest… I fell asleep in my father's arms.

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**Oh and for those of you who guessed Alvin has become an "Exterminator", you deserve a cookie. Mind you, I am taking a few artistic liberties.**

**Also… this scene has been planned from the beginning. The reason why Toothless became human, yet Alvin got… what he got when they were shot by the arrows is something that was planned from the beginning. It'll all make sense once certain elements become present.**

**And wow, that's the longest Hiccup snippet I ever made.**

**Please remember to read and review. Each review promotes this story and encourages others to read it.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: Dreamworks and Cressida Cowell own the How to Train Your Dragon franchise. **

**Going to be taking a break it seems while I iron out the plot for the next story few arcs. So this update is the last for maybe few weeks or so.**

**Enjoy this story and please remember to review.  
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Men were men. Women were sort of men, too. And even some babies had chest hair. But I had a hard time believing in a world where men were dragons. When I had seen Alvin, all scaled up and armed with claws, I made the assumption that some dark powers had twisted him into some sort of monster. I could not believe my son had been the one responsible nor could I believe he was perhaps going to be monstrous as Alvin had become…

And the worst part of it all was what I could not yet confirm or deny, but I had my suspicions. I was no fool and I was perfectly capable of figuring things out for myself; granted, I still failed to find Hamish the Second's treasure, but that man was a genius. No, I understood perfectly what caused my son to go down this road the moment he said that the potion that caused this madness granted strength. After all, what would a boy want after being told for so long how weak he was? I hoped my answer to that question was wrong.

I was on a ship, one that was still landed on the island's many beaches. Night had fallen and Alvin and what remained of his Outcasts had vanished from the island, without any clues to their whereabouts, not that I was in any condition to follow them. My son's condition was far more important to me than killing that monster. I needed time to lick my wounds and head home. And I needed time to think on and decide my son's fate with the Hooligan Tribal Council. The things that had happened here, this day, were world shattering.

It was a mostly private moment with the only exceptions being my son's friends who sat by his side, watching him for any sign of movement. Hiccup, my son, was unconscious laying in a pile of rags that served as a mat. He was stripped almost naked, save for the article that would preserve his modesty. It was grotesque and horrifying, made worse because it was my own flesh and blood there. Alvin had crushed my son's knees so thoroughly that he severed the legs. It was no surprise then that the blood loss had caused my son to turn pale and faint by the time I had reached him.

Unfortunately, I was not the only one who knew the truth now. When my son revealed to me his eye this morning, he did not do so in private. Due to desperation and carelessness, he had also informed several others in that tunnel, others that he had forgotten to take account of and only stood there silently while the battle raged on. On top of that, that stunt my son pulled when he… did whatever he did to Alvin did not go unnoticed. No one, especially not a weak, ninety pound boy could easily stand after having an axe plunge that deep into his rear. And that was before the healers performed a medical examination that revealed what happened to my son's body. They knew him as the source of Alvin's power, but also as the one who defeated him.

If it was not for the fact that my son had stopped Alvin in this battle, I had no doubt that that there would have been several attempts at his life at this point. I could tell that several of my men were uncomfortable with the idea that one of their own, especially one that was my son, was almost as much of a creature as Alvin. The only things that stopped them from acting was my son's bravery and heroism and their respect of me.

The same went for Snotlout. My nephew was next to my son, also dozing off. Fishlegs had attempted to hide what my nephew had undergone, but more senior and experienced healers had insisted rather forcefully to examine the boy. They were surprised to say the least. According to Toothless, Hiccup had prepared a second potion in the event someone was going to end up critically injured. Unfortunately, that person was Snotlout. I was glad that his father was too busy pillaging/salvaging what was left of Alvin's fortress to take notice. I did not know how my brother would react.

Currently, it was dinner time. I did not have much, admittedly. It was just some bread and some soup with some alcohol to wash it down, but it was practically a feast for my son's friends given their somewhat meager portions. "That was the best hostage crisis I have ever been, too!" Chirped Bertha's daughter. "We not only stole everything in sight, but we also stole the whole island!" Her mother was just smiling in approval, hiding her true feelings on the matter. Normally, I would not allow the Bog Burglars aboard my ship, but given how that girl was essentially my son's right hand, I had to give her a little credit. It was also very strange that I had never realized how she and that Hofferson girl looked so much alike.

"I still can't believe we did it…" said Fishlegs, my son's oldest friend. The blonde boy was feeding my son and my nephew with a few spoonfuls of soup, taking care to ensure they are able to swallow it unconsciously. "Everything was just so crazy!"

"Yeah, tell me about it!" said one of the twins, the male.

"Everything was just so perfect!" Ruffnut said.

"So much destruction!"

"So much chaos!"

"I even got to steal some guy's skull from his head!" The male of the pair then proudly displayed a bone bleached white skull. Hopefully, they were just talking about a decorative skull that had been used as part of a helmet… not actually taking it from someone's actually body.

"What do you mean you took it?" Said the girl twin as she slapped her brother. "It was me!"

"No, I did it!" I observed the male retaliating, by shoving a loaf of bread into his twin's mouth. I had seen this enough times to usually figure out not to get involved. I took a bite of my loaf of bread, curious as to who would win this time.

"Do… they always do this?" asked Toothless, only staring at the scene before him. He probably wondered why no one was bothering to get involved.

"Yes," I said. "Let them be, this is how they are." At least they were not destroying things.

"And I thought Zipplebacks were weird…" was his only reply. I chuckled. Of course, comparing the twins to a two headed dragon was deeply humorous and rather ironic. Zippleback heads are known for how cooperative they are to each other. Overall, my son had done a well to get someone like him.

"You got that right," I laughed. At this point, I saw the twins trying to eat their soup while tied upside down to the ship's mast. Apparently they were doing some sort of eating contest now. I don't know whether or not I should have intervened. More important was how they got up there in the small time frame I had been speaking with Toothless?

While they were they were distracted, Camicazi stepped in. "I'll be taking that!" she exclaimed as she walked over and picked up the skull that the twins were fighting over.

"Hey, that's ours!" said the twins. The duo then leapt off of the mast, with more agility that you'd think them to be capable of it.

"Pft, I stole it fair and square!" Camicazi said as she walked off. They immediately began running after the Bog Burglar. Then Bertha went and followed them, apparently interested in wanting to see the crime.

"What just happened?" asked Toothless.

"Don't bother thinking about it too much…" I said. "They're just doing what is in their nature…" The explanation seemed to cause the boy's eyes to question me slightly. "Just eat your dinner, it doesn't really matter."

"Alright," the boy said, taking his bowl of soup. If there had to be any faults to the boy, it had to be his table manners. Granted, us Vikings did not really care much about thing such as table etiquette, especially when we did not use tables. Toothless on the other hand was lapping his soup rather noisily while getting the contents poured all over his tunic. Then he wiped his face with his forearm. I did not know whether or not I should be appalled or impressed by his absolute lack of table manners. "All done," said the boy. He must have been raised by animals or something.

Fishlegs laughed a hearty laugh at that sight. Astrid, who had remained silent up until now, also blew up laughing from Fishlegs's laughter. Toothless glowered at them both. I joined in the laughing fit. "You look ridiculous, boy." That's what happened when someone was covered in soup and eating like a wild animal. He blushed, realizing his own embarrassment. I handed him a fresh change of clothes and a towel. "Get yourself cleaned up."

Toothless nodded and walked off the boat, surprisingly Astrid followed. "I'm going to make sure he doesn't get into any trouble." I nodded in response.

That just left me and Fishlegs with the unconscious pair of boys. I heard a groaning and turned towards my son, hoping he was waking. Instead, I had Snotlout stirring in his sleep. No surprise, his injuries were far less severe than my son's, so it made sense he would be awaking first.

He grunted in frustration, fluttering his eyes a few times to remove the sleepiness. "Gah…" he groaned.

"Hey, take it easy," said Fishlegs, withdrawing the spoonful of soup, only for the boy to grab it and take a sip. "You almost got yourself killed…"

"Oh. Well, that's great. You're not exactly my idea of a Valkyrie…" he said, rather pompously. Apparently, being nearly dead is not a concern for my cousin. I just chuckled, at least he was taking it in stride. He took the bowl of soup and started digging into it, apparently very hungry. "Hey, wait," he said between mouthfuls. Bad manners is a Viking thing… "Where's that kid, Fruitless or whatever it was, did he make it?"

"Well, yeah," said Fishlegs, while taking another bowl and spoon to Hiccup. "According to him and the twins, he drove that Whispering Death away."

I decided to step in "It's just that… well, you almost didn't…"

"What? I feel fine! Better than ever, really…" he complained. He waved his left arm, the one that had changed, around in protest.

I decided to look at the arm intently. My nephew may be thick at times, but that's due to the fact that he's a normal Viking. "That's because there were steps taken to make sure that you are fine." I had been informed by Fishlegs that the potion or whatever it was dramatically increased healing abilities. It was what allowed _that monster _to survive as it did. He was no longer Alvin the Treacherous to me.

He got the hint and paid close attention to the fact his hand was now covered in scales. His face contorted into an expression of shock and disbelief. It hurt me to break his little delusion of peak performance. "Am I like… Alvin…?" he gasped unsure and frightened.

"Yes." I said. I had to comfort him, but I did not have to be soft about it. We were Vikings, not lily-livered Romans or Frenchmen. "You're much like what Alvin is… becoming part dragon though some sort of magic…"

He looked unsure of himself for a moment, gathering his thoughts and examining just how much he changed. "Oh, man, we gotta hide this before dad sees it... I'm so disowned now!" Suddenly, I understood why my son had been so insistent on hiding his deformity when we had first met in those tunnels. Just how was a parent supposed to react to their children becoming partly dragon _creatures_? What is the right thing to do here? To love your child because he is cursed or to _disown _and_ banish _ your child because he was cursed? History and storytelling is rife with anecdotal evidence making for both cases to be valid options.

"Don't be ridiculous," I was almost lying through my teeth. "Your father's not going to disown you." Actually, I had no idea if my brother would disown my nephew, especially since I was not sure on the whole matter myself with my son. On the one hand, our children were becoming half dragon abominations. On the other, Alvin was able to fight no less than two elite warriors and two fighting prodigies who were given archery support _and win_ before my son got involved. This just made it more difficult to label their condition as an outright curse, since it placed their current state in a category that was more reserved for mixed blessings.

"Really?" he said hopefully.

"Yeah," I hoped. "Just take it easy."

"Pft, as if. If I'm like Alvin, maybe I should try seeing what this new arm of mine can do," Snotlout leapt out of the bed. "Maybe it can crush rocks with my barehands…" At least he was being optimistic.

"Just word of advice," said Fishlegs, his tone was strangle professional and cold. "Try not to hurt yourself… or you'll end up like Hiccup." Snotlout froze for a moment and turned to my son, still laying down unconscious and half naked. He could clearly see what the blond boy was getting at. "Every single hurt and injury, even the smallest, just makes you that much closer to… well… whatever it is you're turning into…" The normally pompous Viking boy quietly nodded before heading off into the night. He hid arm in some bandages, not that it would do any good, as it was likely everyone knew about it by now. Hopefully, he'd be safe.

In the mean time, I went and picked up a charcoal pen and some paper. I needed to decide what position I would take regarding my son, so I began listing the pros and cons.

Maybe it would be better, for his sake, to exile him? He would not be putting up with the needless suffering and persecution he would get if he was stuck on an island which already say him as a failure. I would not want him away, but it may be for the best.

Or maybe I should keep him around? Alvin was elevated to a more greater danger and my son was the only reason I was still alive today. It would mean that I could always keep an eye on him, but that mean he was going to practically be imprisoned in his own home.

Would it be good for the whole tribe though? My son was practically abomination. And it might only get worse. Would I wake up one day and find that my son would throw his lot with the dragons and betray his own people?

This decision was hard. If Val was here, maybe she would have an easier time guiding me in the right direction. She always knew what to do. However, as I could only ask things of the living, Gobber probably had better advice and so did Gothi. No matter what, I needed to present my case and decision before the other leaders in the village.

There was also the matter of Alvin. I had a duty to warn the other Tribes, no matter how much I loathed some of them, that the Outcast had been elevated to a monster worth of a saga. With his new found power, he could probably destroy an entire village caught unawares.

Thankfully, my son's destruction of Outcast Island provides me with an easy diplomatic advantage. It's a good thing that Alvin takes captives from wherever he can. I just needed to figure out where each of them came from.

* * *

I guided Toothless a short distance away from where the ships were docked, some place far away enough away for some privacy. Hopefully, no one was watching us, no one needed to know Toothless really was a dragon. Made worse by the fact I had not informed anyone about the truth. I knew Hiccup was not going to tell his father, Fishlegs and Camicazi weren't speaking about it out of respect, and Snotlout and the twins did not know at all from what I gathered. The only reason I am keeping my mouth shut was because I wanted to have some questions answered.

I will admit, I do not trust that boy completely, but I know he isn't outright against us. Anymore. Maybe that had to do with a certain boy. Aside from that, I could see he was desperate to make amends for a complete stranger. I wasn't so paranoid and unreasonable to think that he was actively trying to convert some of us Vikings to his cause… at least, not right now. _Honest._

The decision to save Snotlout was the hardest choice I had made in my life. Not only because I knew what it would cost _him, _but also what it would cost _me. _ I trusted a dragon to save someone I knew and it worked exactly as we both expected to work. Dragons should not have been capable of guilt, making amends for their crimes, or of self-sacrifice. They also were not supposed to talk, think, or learn how to work in a smithy, but I've gone over that in the past month already. Now I was in a world where dragons were surprisingly _human, _more than even some actual humans. That ignorance something I could never have back. Maybe…

"You don't have to follow me you know," his words broke me out of my thinking. Which was good, I did not want to know where that train of thought was going.

"I'm just making sure you won't get into any trouble…" I said. Not that I cared about him or anything.

"I thought you trusted me," he snorted. As he stepped closer to the water, his feet sank gently into the soft, wet sand of the beach.

"Not that much… Hey, wait, what are you doing?" I saw him bend down and without hesitating, take a sip directly out of the salty, sandy waters.

Toothless choked for a bit before spitting it out. "This water's horrid! It's too salty."

"That's because it's _sea water, _you idiot! People don't drink sea water."

"Then where do you get enough to drink?" He complained. I kept spitting out the taste of salt from his mouth. "There's water everywhere and you humans can't drink it?"

"Mostly we use rivers and lakes, sometimes we use wells…" I stated flatly. I took a small amount of pleasure in his suffering, enough to feel slightly guilty.

"And I was so looking forward to the taste of sea water again," he complained. "I've gotten tired of the stale water, Alvin kept giving us."

"Get used to it," I said. Of all the things to complain about, he chooses the ability to not drink _sea water…_ I guess a dragon's priorities were still strange. "You got… well, you know…" I did not want to rub it in, but I needed to answer some questions. I knew what he was going to respond with next.

"Don't remind me," he said as he stepped closer to the water. "I thought those arrows were supposed to well… turn dragons into people. And Hiccup and I assumed that also applied to anyone who drank those potion. None of us expect it cause the flesh to combust and rot. I was hoping that Hiccup could just cure himself and Snotlout without much work… now I'm… stuck like this."

"So… you aren't going to break your promise?" I asked him. I was asking him about his pledge to save Snotlout this morning. Back then, everyone else had all thought Hiccup was going to have an easy time turning himself human again. Now though, I needed to see where his loyalties lie. The fact that I am assuming him to be _honest_ is telling.

"No!" he protested, furiously. "That's… unthinkable." I squinted my eyes. Why exactly it unthinkable? "I'm not going against my word, not like that. I am not an Oath Breaker." I guess dragons really did regard their honor rather highly if they had a title or name to refer someone who literally broke oaths. Vikings also understood that people who break their vows and oaths are not to be trusted readily.

"I'm guessing you're not going to go running off somewhere even though you said you would." When we had first met on that boat, he had said that his intentions were that once he was free, he would go off on his own. I wanted to know if that still held true.

"No, that would get in the way of my oath to aid Snotlout."

"And don't you have any Oaths to your kind? Won't they miss you from preforming them?"

"I do, but it is completely impossible for me to do any of them for now. Aside from that, only Hiccup can brew the potion I need. And even then I'm not sure if it would work as I hope it would…"

"What gives you that idea?"

"Alvin had both taken a potion and had been harmed by the arrows… I don't know what would happen to me if I would take the potion myself… so not going to chance it until it's safe." I nodded, it made sense. It might have been a little cowardly, but at least the dragon was playing things smart. Of course, that was when I remembered the reason why we were here in the first place.

"We better get you cleaned up, you're starting to smell…" Toothless stepped forward into the water, submerging himself to his knees. I instructed him to remove his ragged and submerge it in the water, rinsing out the soup stains and stench with salty water. I told him to come back, after thinking his trousers and tunic were soaked thoroughly enough by the waves.

After coming out of the water and retreating towards drier sands, Toothless sat some distance away from the shoreline. He draped his wet tunic over his left shoulder. "Mind if we talked a bit more?" he said to me.

"Sure, I've got some things I wanted to ask you." I intended to do so in the first place. I sat down beside him.

At this, the dragon nodded and looked up at the sky above. "So… what I want to know is… what's the big deal with that axe of yours?"

I blinked, his first question caught me completely off guard. I thought it would be something important, instead he asks me about my axe of all things. "Why, whatever do you mean?"

"I don't claim to know much about you or how you Vikings regard your weapons, but I don't understand why you're still keeping such a useless object on your person…" He was referring to my axe. The axe that Alvin had so callously crushed and torn apart this afternoon. Currently, I kept its pieces on my person, hoping that I might get a smith to fix it. I knew Hiccup would do it.

I was furious. No one insulted my axe. "My axe isn't useless," I protested. "That's a stupid question."

"Well, then what is it, then?" he asked. "I don't think even Hiccup could repair it now. It's better to just throw it away or melt it down. The others have done the same with their weapons."

"My axe is my axe. I'm not going to throw it away just because everyone else throws away their weapons!"

"What makes your axe so special?"

"Because… it was a gift to me." One belonging to a long dead Fearless Finn, courtesy of one Flightmare.

"Big deal, Hiccup gave me dozens of crossbows back when we were in Alvin's clutches," he stated flatly. "Why does that make it so special?" He clearly did not understand the value of objects that well. Maybe he wasn't so bright as I thought he was. I needed to explain it to him, in a way that hopefully he could understand.

"Because… imagine if Hiccup died and all you have is that one crossbow."

This statement caused the former dragon's eyes to furrow. "Go on."

"Imagine if that crossbow is all you have left to remember him by, the only reminder that Hiccup was your friend. My axe was given to me by my uncle shortly before he died." I could feel a heavy sensation in my heart, the memory of my helplessness. I was only a little girl at the time. "And now that my axe is ruined, all I have left is the wreckage."

"How did your uncle die?" Toothless asked. His tone was cold, measured. He must have understood what I had been getting at.

"Died in a dragon attack. He stood his ground when everyone else ran for shelter."

"I'm sorry for your loss," Toothless stated. I couldn't help but imagine that he felt somewhat guilty, since he was afterall, a dragon. "Your uncle sounded rather brave." It must have been something if even a _dragon _was acknowledging Fearless Finn Hofferson for what he was, brave.

I had to change the subject to before I did something I would regret. Anymore and I might start to forget what he really was. I reaffirmed my purpose with a question. "Just fine, so… whose side are you on in anyways?"

"Excuse me?" To be fair to him, I did not fully explain the question.

"You're…well, you know, but you aren't one of us." All he had to do was add in the term 'dragon' and 'Viking' in the right places. Instead of giving a reply, the dragon just looked up at the stars above. He stood there silently, looking at the sky.

Eventually, he broke the silence with a question. "Why do Vikings and my Kin need to be enemies?"

"Well, _your Kin_," I appropriated his own terms. Honestly, why did dragons have their weird way of referring to their own kind? Was calling themselves dragons too much of a hassle? "Your Kin show up every few month or so to take all our food away."

"And you Vikings have slaughtered entire nests of my Kin for whatever reason." He had me there. Many Tribes were known laying siege to entire nests of dragons, so us Vikings aren't exactly guilt free in that regard.

"What are you getting at?" I asked. "And… start making sense, we keep answering each other's questions with more questions."

Toothless sighed. "As you said when we first met, I am a dragon because my heart is of a dragon's. So I am on the side of my Kin, but… I do not want to be Hiccup's enemy."

"Why?" I said.

"I would like to be Hiccup's friend, even when I return to well, you know." I think my jaw dropped for a split second. The dragon wanted to remain _friends_ with a human. That was… that was an unthinkable, impossible, ridiculous thing that could only exist in a children's book.

"Are you serious?"

"Very. I think I can convince the rest of my Kin to leave your nest more or less alone. Maybe set up an arrangement or pact of some sort… Hiccup had some ideas of his own, too."

"Why am I not surprised?" I said mostly to myself. Toothless and Hiccup wanted to broker peace between Vikings and dragonkind through some sort of political arrangement. Aside from the fact that it was just… weird, there probably plenty bad blood on both sides to make it difficult. I should really start expecting the insane from those two.

"Astrid!" I heard a voice say behind us. I turned and looked around and saw, Snotlout, his draconic arm bandaged.

"Snotlout!"I said. He seemed excited to see me, an awkward grin on his face.

"And Fruitless…" he said to the former dragon.

"Toothless…" he corrected. "Snotlout, why are you up?"

"I just wanted so fresh air after waking up so I thought I'd do some jogging." The boy did look like he was rather sweaty, so his story checked out. Also, he was not up yet when Toothless and I had left, so it was coincidence he showed up. Hopefully. "Then… I found you guys… sitting out here on the beach. At Night… Just the two of you… Just wanted to check on you…"

"Yes, just us," Toothless proudly declared. He obviously did not understand the subtext. My mouth was glued together in sudden shock and disbelief. I had thought only Hiccup and that dragon made simply unthinkable thoughts, but apparently even _Snotlout _can have crazy ideas, too. That was wrong on so many levels.

"Oh, so… are you and Astrid…" Before he could finish that statement, I almost punched him in the face, but I stopped my fist from impacting when I only just remembered that he was exactly in the same position as Hiccup. The boy flinched back and guarded his face with his arms with a cry of, "No, not my beautiful face!" I drew my fist back. He was used to getting beat up without so much as blinking, so he was not scared of the injuries. I knew it had to do with the disfigurement that came along with… being like Hiccup and Alvin.

"Snotlout, Toothless and I are not…" I said, trying hard to make it sound convincing. I really did not want to make the situation worse by making it sound like I was denying the truth. "Toothless and I are a not an item…" The former dragon only looked at me with confusion, he clearly. That was not helping matters. It did not matter what he thought, I did not care about what he thought. What was more important was what Snotlout, and potentially everyone else he told, thought.

"You're not?" He asked shyly. "But what about the what about… this night, alone on the beach, with each other?" Especially important since this was our first moment of actual freedom in a month.

"What's so special about a night on the beach with another?" asked Toothless, confused from me not explaining anything at all to him. Maybe dragons did not value this sort of thing like we humans did. I mean, they clearly have different ideas for how water should taste…

"What… are you doing here, then?"

"Just talking," Toothless said. "There's nothing wrong with talking with someone else on the beach at night is there?" Thor, he was really ignorant.

"I guess not… when I saw you two, I was just thinking…" I understood what he meant. He felt somewhat threatened by the prospect of a stranger, an outsider, making off with me.

I had to put an end to this before it got even more awkward. The last thing I wanted to do was have everyone around me think I had a thing for a dragon of all things. "Snotlout, Toothless and I do not have a romantic relationship, at all. We were just talking about "

Toothless, it seemed finally understood what Snotlout and I had been talking about. "Wait, you thought I was...on a date _with her?"_Snotlout blushed slightly. "Well, we're not. She's… not exactly my type." Translation, not a dragon. Which was fine, he wasn't my type either. "Honestly, I don't see what Hiccup sees in her, but he can have her for all I care." Somehow, that actually stung a little. I guess it was because it was my first official rejection from anyone. Even if it was a dragon in human form.

"Wait, you're… dumping _Astrid_?" Snotlout exclaimed in disbelief. "But why?"

"Just leave it alone, Snotlout." I said. The situation could get even worse if it dragged on any further. "We are not on an item. Snotlout, if I kept a list of the people I would date, he would not be on it." I didn't carry such a list, of course. I was not that petty. Admittedly, I don't think I would put Snotlout on it, attempted heroism notwithstanding. Granted, my dad does keep a list for people I am allowed to marry and I was very sure Snotlout was on it somewhere. And so long as no one knew Toothless's origins, chances are he would be on there too once my dad learns of him… There is an awful disconnect between Viking fathers and their daughters…

"I'll think I'll take that as a compliment," said Toothless since his feelings were mostly mutual.

* * *

I wondered for a moment if some higher power had declared open season on Hiccup's feet. Astrid had been prone to crushing his toes just before everything went crazy; I shot him in the foot while Alvin held us captive; and the Outcast Chief himself had severed both of my friends by the knees. And he was still _healing_ from all of that damage.

With Snotlout away and Chief Stoick writing plans for his son, I was left to my own devices. I had a pen and my notebook so that I could write my findings. I had tied a cloth to one of Hiccup's thighs to measure the effects of the potion. See, when Chief Stoick had originally seen his son as battered as was, he had ordered some of his men that knew how to treat amputations to cauterize the stumps to stop the bleeding. Except, I had to inform them that the bleeding had already stopped on their own, making their job redundant. And now, according to my measurements, the stumps of Hiccup's legs had grown by almost three inches since we had recovered him. That was roughly an inch every two hours. And that wasn't even getting into the matter of his new tail.

I was going to have to tell Gobber _not _to make replacement legs, but rather special pants.

It was incredible to say the least, just as everything else I knew about that potion was. The power to recover from_ any_ injury, even dismemberment, is nothing short of incredible. Turning into a dragon was also incredible, as was increasing one's strength from just a drink. And when you thought about it, none of that made a lick of sense.

Fact: The potion causes muscles to become stronger and develop increased motor functions even before any transformation occurs. Hiccup easily carried an axe was originally too heavy for him to carry.

Fact: Those who drink the potion possess drastically increased healing ability, but as a consequence gradually become more dragon-like in the areas that are recovering.

Both of these traits on their own probably would be incredibly good, but together, the potion does come off as rather inefficient.

If the goal was to make someone stronger and heal from any injury, then making someone gradually turn into a dragon means that eventually, they will lose their ability to fight as they become too inhuman to use their bodies properly. Toothless spent at least a week before he could learn to walk properly without tripping over himself and even then he still tries to move on all fours when he can.

If the point was to make someone into a dragon, then why have someone retain human form at? Wouldn't it just be easier to have someone immediately change into a dragon, instead of a slow process that happens every time an injury happened? The healing ability is probably necessary though as the transformation process warps the body.

Theory: The potion is either faulty or incomplete. In its current state, its effects, except for the rapid healing, tend not to support each other very well.

If I could read the rest of the text in Hiccup's book, I would have the confirmation I needed. Unfortunately, I could only read Norse as my friend did. Maybe if we could find a translator, I could be able to find a way to read the Latin and… whatever that other language is called.

There were also other considerations of the potion, such as how it interacted with the specially-made silver arrow Hiccup had made.

Fact: Alvin had drank the potion two and had turned into some sort unknown dragon breed.

Fact: The arrows turned a dragon, Toothless, into a human being while causing almost no harm to the former dragon.

Fact: When Hiccup plunged the arrow into him, Alvin flesh was practically burned off and started to undergo some sort of decay. This caused him enough pain and suffering to consider withdrawing, seemingly off the whole island entirely.

Theory: The arrows clearly do different things based on their targets. An actual dragon, like Toothless, would be transformed, but dragons made through the potion, like Alvin, would suffer grievous injuries. The only way I would know for sure is if I could test it out on Hiccup and other potion warped targets. But given that the result is supernaturally grievous injuries, I do not think I would have any volunteers.

I also needed to figure out by what method it determined what people turned into. Alvin and Hiccup had turned into two completely different dragons. My only problem is that I had no information to make even a basic hypothesis. And I don't think Stoick would be too accepting of any more people deciding to become inhuman monsters.

Currently, I had my friend's book, having taken it from my friend's body before anyone else could find it. There was no telling what the Chief would do to the source of all of our troubles in the past month. If it got destroyed, Hiccup's chances of finding a cure would eventually drop to nonexistent variables. At the same time, I did not want to open it myself. I was afraid if something bad happening to me if I opened to it. Maybe I would get struck by lightning or be set on fire… or turn into a frog. Fact was, I did not want to risk it. At least, not without Hiccup being the one to open it.

Additionally, I had other things to worry about aside from the book. Alvin had become some previously unknown dragon of some sort. And I had to classify it. Someone had to do it and I was the only one really qualified for the job. I may have sat the battle out, but I was able to see what had happened with Alvin via the use of a spyglass. Plus, I had more than enough details for Alvin's feats and approximate abilities from listening to Hooligan and Bog Burglar warriors who seen the six on one battle, even after accounting for exaggeration.

For starters, Alvin's appearance was freaky. The transparent scales and flesh, allowed us to see the blood as it flowed through his body with each beat of his _two _hearts. Whatever Alvin was, this visage was clearly meant to intimidate potential enemies. Very few creatures, even Vikings, like to see internal organs. A creature that makes its organs visible at all times is very unsettling. On a cheerier note, we now have actual proof that blood does flow through the body in a continuous loop.

Alvin also possessed powerful claws and freakish strength. Practically as long as shortswords, those claws were strong enough to tear hardened steel, as was evidenced by the fact that everyone who fought Alvin in a melee lost their weapons. According to several Vikings, the claws were also sharp enough to tear faces off and viciously mutilate. Hiccup was _lucky_ Alvin on went for his legs. The reason Alvin was so near unbeatable was just as much due to the dragon he was becoming was a type of creature practically _optimized _for lethality as much as he had powerful regenerative abilities.

As neither he nor Hiccup were not fully transformed yet, I did not know if Alvin would ever get fire breathing abilities, so I could not estimate a shot limit or get an idea of how powerful the fire was. However, if I would learn of those things, I had no doubt it would be frightening.

Currently, I pegged Alvin's statistics as the following on my notebook:

_**Offense:**__ Retractable sword-like claws capable of tearing steel. At least 15. _

_**Defense:**__ See above. Claws can catch the blade of an axe mid-swing as Astrid unfortunately learned. At least 15._

_**Speed:**__ Fast. At least 10._

_**Fear Rating:**__ We can see the blood moving through Alvin's body. That is as fearsome as it was disgusting. Definitely 20._

I would have to make adjustments when I had more information, but I felt that these rough estimates would be good for now.

As for what to call this recently discovered species, whatever Alvin was, he was definitely an unstoppable killing machine. As he was the only known member of this dragon breed, I would have to assume that any traits he developed are the standard for all dragons of his type. Assuming there were more of course. It was clear he was a Sharp Class dragon, since the claws seemed to be the only weapons Alvin needed. And given how he was described as effortlessly slaughtering warriors, I have decided to dub Alvin a Vicious Exterminator.

* * *

I have decided I like boats, especially as a passenger and not the cargo. Hiccup had been right to compare sailing to flying, though I add that it is more like riding on a parent's back before learning to actually fly oneself. I was still seasick, but now that I actually knew how to use my legs, I was better at suppressing it. With the bright light of dawn and fresh sea winds in my face, I couldn't help but feel, for once in a long time, free. I was no longer a captive stuffed in a tunnel making weapons by some overgrown brute.

If only Hiccup could enjoy it as well. I was beside my friend, still in a coma. Snotlout sat on the other side of the ship from me (Was it port or starboard, again?), looking rather glum. The only other person I knew aboard was Hiccup's father, everyone else was on a different ship that followed right beside or behind us. My other allies were elsewhere at this time. Astrid, Fishlegs, and the twins were on the boat right next to our own and Camicazi had gone off on her own direction since her Tribe lived elsewhere from the others. She did promise she would come if Hiccup was making another "crazy adventure" however.

Additionally, several of the other ships had a number of former captives. I did not see the point in bringing them along, but Hiccup's father apparently had a plan for them. Maybe he was going to bind them into his service or something. I did not care much for them. Hiccup used them for his own ends. As far as I was concerned, we had no obligation to aid them further unless they had something to offer.

I had never thought about it before now, since I had used to see the Herd afar, but with the way the ships were aligned together, moving side by side, it reminded me of how my Kin moved together in a Flight. I suppose Hiccup had been right to compare sailing to flying.

The majority of our voyage was in dull silence and utter boredom. The unfortunate thing about being a passenger was that there were fewer activities to distract me. I also only had the faintest idea of where we were going and no idea how long it would take. If it was the night time, I could have used the Moon and the stars to get an idea of where I was relative to the Nest. Every Squire had to at least know how to navigate using the night sky before even being considered for the task and I was considered a prodigy for having learned about it so quickly. Which was true, I was a Night Fury, we were good at nearly everything. I wonder if the Herd practiced something similar, after all, we already shared several ideas already, such as honor, glory, and "spin the icicle".

Which only left me one choice for distraction. I needed to see my charge. "So… are you okay?" I asked Snotlout.

"Uh yeah," said the boy. "Just fine." He still had his arm bandaged, despite the fact that practically everyone likely knew about it already. So I got the idea he _wanted_ things to be "just fine".

"So you're not feeling down after, well, your arm?" Or Astrid. I got the feel that like Hiccup, this boy wanted to pursue that female.

"As if," he said more confidently. Maybe he was bored as I was, after all? "With my new arm, I'm going to kill the dragon who maimed my old one." He spoke of the Whispering Death, the _dragon_ that had been in my nightmares ever since I was young and the one that had nearly killed Snotlout. It was also the only dragon I knew, other than myself that could understand Norse.

I had a little score to settle and some questions to ask that dragon. "Well, you can count me in on that," I said. "I hate that monster. So you're not feeling upset at all?"

"Nope."

"Really?" I asked in disbelief. Then again, the only ones who I knew who were not too thrilled about slowly becoming one of the Kin were Hiccup and Astrid. Maybe it would be easier to convince him to fully convert to a dragon instead?

"Not at all." That is, assuming that Snotlout is being wholly honest with me _and himself. _There was only one way to make sure.

I whispered a question in his ear. It was best if few people as possible knew it. "If you're really sure… I guess you wouldn't be afraid if you became all dragon, now won't you?" At this statement, Snotlout turned somewhat pale.

His lips quivered slightly and his tone transformed into that of fear. "What? Of- of course, I would not. I'm not afraid of… I just don't want to be all dragon." Well, that proved it. Given how he reacted to Astrid nearly punching him last night, I was pretty sure he was just as afraid of changing, if not more, than Hiccup.

"Well, I'm sure Hiccup will figure something out eventually," I said.

"Yeah," Snotlout said, trying to put a little more cheer into his voice. "And until then, all I have to do is just not get hit again... ever… " I wondered for a moment if he knew that I was the one who decided to change him. He probably didn't, as he was being rather, amiable to me.

We decided to end the conversation there as neither of us seemed to have anything to talk about.

It turned out that the voyage to Hiccup's home was much longer than I anticipated. Sunset was almost arriving by the time we docked in the hareboar of Berk. The first to leave their ships were the wounded. Several men went to pick up and carry the wounded or incapacitated, including Hiccup into their respective homes or places where they could be cared for.

After them, Snotlout and I disembarked at the same time. I was tired and feeling some way lazy. Despite having spent all day not moving more than a foot, all I really wanted to do was head to sleep now. I wondered if I could find a nice cold rock for me to lay on. That would have been great.

At this point a man approached us. Tall and large like most men, but I could see that his hair was somewhat greyer than normal. Snotlout seemed to know who he was immediately. "Hey, dad."

The man narrowed his eyes towards Snotlout, who had tried to keep his eyes steady on the man's face. The boy looked really nervous when his father said, "Show it to me."

Snotlout complied and undid the bandaged that obscured his arm. "Boy, what am I going to do with you?"

"I'm fine dad, really." I saw Snotlout try to say.

"That's for me and the Tribal Council to decide in the morning." At this I saw Snotlout turn somewhat pale.

"Is there something wrong?" I piped up. I had to intervene. Snotlout was my charge and my responsibility. I chose to involve myself when I saved him and I was simply continuing my chosen task.

"My boy's… a monster," Snotlout's said the words with such venom I could almost feel my insides were melting. "All because Hiccup had wanted to make himself stronger. I always knew that boy was nothing but trouble." At this point, the knowledge that Hiccup had transformed himself into a partial dragon was openly accepted. Apparently, someone overheard him say it to the Chief. After that, it wasn't hard for people to make an assumption that Hiccup had been the cause of the other two. Which was true.

"Yeah," said Snotlout, some anger and resentment in his voice, but mostly, it was just fear for correcting his father. "Everyone knows he made…whatever it is that makes people into freaks…"

While I was sworn to assist Snotlout, I did not want them to slander Hiccup like that. Without thinking, I stated, "Hey! It's my fault that your son became what he is now, Hiccup's. Just leave him alone."

At this, I could _feel_ his eyes seething and burning with anger and contempt for me. Snotlout just looked shocked and surprised, less anger and more confusion. He probably didn't even know I was the cause of it. I had hoped to hide that fact for as long as I could, but my sense of protectiveness got the better of me. "You did what?" he said. "You made my son into… this?" He pointed at his son.

"Yes," I said. It was too late now. "I had no choice to save him or else he would have died."

"So not only you have turned my son into a monster, you denied him a chance to go to Valhalla or Fólkvangr with a hero's death?" said the man as he drew a sword, pointing it right at me. Snotlout, looking very pale and afraid, backed away from the two of us.

The man's statement confused me. Snotlout's father was angry at me for saving his son's life? That made no sense and defied all logic. And what were these Valhalla and Fólkvangr places anyways? Maybe Vikings were probably not as smart or wise as I had been led to believe. "Honor demanded that I save his life!" I shouted.

"And honor demands I end yours!"

Unfortunately for me, I was completely terrible at using a sword or any other melee weapon, so I never bothered to carry one on my person. I had my crossbow, but I would not be able to arm and shoot it in the time it took for the man to overrun me. This meant, I had neither the skill or a weapon to fight back with. Not only that, Snotlout's father was likely bigger and more experienced then me in combat. I had no chance of beating him even if I had a weapon and the skill to fight. I tried to run, but my legs got tangled in a fishing net, sending me toppling to the ground.

Snotlout's father closed in on me, sword held high. He swung it over my head and… it did not hint. I heard a clang of metal meeting metal. I opened my eyes and saw Stoick the Vast right on top of me. "What are you doing, Spitelout?" he said to the man, now identified as Spitelout.

"Avenging my family's honor. This one has cursed my son into the same fate as your failure!"

"He has a point…" I said quietly. If it was not for me misjudging the situation with that Whispering Death, Snotlout would not be in this mess. And on top of that, I was the one who gave him the potion.

Stoick apparently was better at suppressing his anger towards people who were disrespecting Hiccup than I was. "Whatever happens to our children will be decided in the Council tomorrow. And Toothless is under my protection as my guest… is that clear?"

Spitelout sheathed his sword and turned towards his son and then to me. "Then, I demand restitution."

"I have nothing I could offer," I said. The concept of debts is also known to my Kin, so I knew what he was talking about. Unfortunately, I owned next to nothing that could be of value.

"You do, give that to me," the man said as he pointed to the object strapped to my back. Suddenly, I started to understand Astrid's words about special possessions a bit more personally. While Hiccup was still alive, that crossbow was what I had made my first kills with. I also helped make it by cutting the wood that formed the stock and forging several critical internal components. But if it would settle my debt to him, then I had no choice but to give it.

I offered it to the man before Stoick could protest. He took my crossbow and… snapped it in half using his big meaty hands. I suddenly felt regretting my decision. "We're even." And then he and his son had left. Hopefully, I could still aid Snotlout.

"You didn't have to do that you know." Stoick said.

"I did, it was my fault anyways…."

The Chief just gave a sigh. "Come on, I think we should get you over to bed before you do anything even crazier."

I nodded and followed him through the… nest I suppose it was. My knowledge of Herd terms was still incomplete. So, I had to substitute using the closest analogues in my Kin's vocabulary. The place seemed eerily familiar to me, as I walked past each wooden cave home. It was as if I had been here before, but I could not understand why.

On my way over to Hiccup's home were a couple of those wood and stone spires the Herd used for defense. Catapults and trebuchets, Hiccup had explained to me how they worked when we were trying to think of uses for that Zippleback gas. Before, I had thought it was impressive that the Herd could make such unusual defenses, now that I knew how they operated, I could not help but look at them with a small gleam of awe. These weapons were designed to throw objects with great mass with relative ease. I had destroyed many of them in the short time I have Hunted without giving them much thought other than counting how many I had broken. Now I knew better.

Before I could take in the scene more, Stoick stopped in front of one of the wooden cave homes and opened the door. "Welcome to my house, Toothless." House must have been what these places were called. "While you here, you will be my guest."

"I thank you for your hospitality." We stepped inside. The inside of Hiccup's 'house' looked odd. As one of the Kin, I was used to seeing sparse nests with very few physical possessions. My Kin were often mobile, changing homes every season or so, without a second thought. Most anyone carried along with them was a favorite bone or a set of trophies. The inside of human home was practically littered with possessions, most of which I did not know the function of.

There was a fire going inside the house, contained in a stone thing, that was connected the wall. Since he had been carried over by a man who was missing an arm and a leg, Hiccup had made it here before us and was still quietly dozing in this very large wooden object that had all these cloths and furs on top of it. My friend was inside them all, practically cocooned. Stoick seemed to smile a little at the sight of his son. "He's finally home, safe at last."

This was a father that cared. Hiccup was lucky to have a father like him. Mine had disappeared into parts unknown just before my egg had even been laid. I quietly nodded.

"Few people are willing to claim him as friend," he told me. "And you've helped me bring him back to me, I promise, I'll find a way to send you home too…"

I almost flinched at that. I was not ready to go home. Not only were Snotlout and Hiccup still… well neither human nor dragon, but I was not ready to turn back yet. In fact, I did not know if using the potion to return myself to normal would have been a valid option. One wrong move and I might kill myself in some arcane accident or something. "I can't go home… not yet." I said. I

"You can't?" the chief seemed apologetic. "Why not?"

"Well, I can't go home, until I can cure Hiccup and Snotlout. I swore an oath, sir." I didn't tell him, of course, it was because I was one of the Kin. That would have things more complicated than I wanted them to be.

"Oh…" At this my host smiled at me. "I know how that is then. My son was right to have you for a friend."

"Thank you," I said in reply. I didn't think he would have the same response if he knew the truth about me, but it was a compliment nonetheless.

"Still, maybe I can set up some mail so you can write to your parents…"

"My mother and I are not on speaking terms… I do not wish to write to her." And I was illiterate, making it hard for me to write without assistance. And I was very sure all of my Kin, including mother, could not read as well. Besides, I did not want for any of my Kin to know what has become of me unless they could fix Hiccup, Snotlout, and me. Now, if I could write to my King… that was a different story all together. Of course, if any Kin could read, it would be him.

Hiccup's father just sighed, I had made it difficult for him to show gratitude to me after all. "Come on, you'll have to use Hiccup's bed for tonight as he is in mine." I followed him over to another wooden thing, similar to the one Hiccup slept in, but significantly smaller.

"Where will you sleep?" I asked him. It was rude not

"Don't worry about it, I'm used to sleeping in chairs on occasion," he told me. A chair did not sound like something very comfortable, but I nodded. Hiccup's father then moved toward a wooden box of some sort near the bed. He opened in and pulled out a set of clothing, a green tunic and some pants similar to the get up I had seen Hiccup with when we had first met. "You also need to get changed." He placed them on top of the cloth sheets.

"What's wrong with what I currently wear?" I asked him.

"The fact that Alvin gave those to you… and they're mostly old and torn." Now that I had thought about, I had been wearing these clothes for about a week. I wonder if humans liked wearing clothes for that long. I just nodded in compliance. I was his guest. "Good." was his only reply. And then I was alone.

I removed myself from the rags Alvin had given me and put on what was essentially belonged to Hiccup. It fit, though it was somewhat tight around the abdomen. Hiccup was still scrawnier than me. Not only had I been taught many things by the boy, but now I also wore his own clothes and slept in his bed. No matter what, I kept getting things from him, one way or another, yet I still have not done nearly enough to pay him back for it.

I pulled open the sheet of cloth and slipped inside. It was mostly made of wood, so it wasn't much different from sleeping on a hard stone floor. It was however, more comfortable due to the blanket providing some insulation from the air around me. I had been used to essentially just sleeping in old rags when I stayed in Alvin's 'care'. If I was still a Night Fury, I should have been starting to wake up around this time. Instead, I find myself weary and longing for rest.

I don't know, how long I had been asleep and I do not remember what my dreams were. I assume it was rather simple as I did not wake from a nightmare. But I awoke when I heard the loud sound of something. I couldn't tell what it was. I leapt out of the bed to see what it was.

There, I saw Hiccup, finally awake and moving. He was on the floor, mostly wearing only a pair of trousers. "Toothless, you're in my house," he said to me, his expression was of disbelief. I leap for joy and began moving and running through the house like a lunatic. My friend was awake and all was well in the world. He just stared at me as I knocked over objects throughout his home. Hiccup had said somethings, but I could not understand him through my excitement. Giving myself a moment to settle down, I moved towards him excitedly.

"I've missed you, bud." I appropriated his own term for me. The color on his face flushed a little as he smiled. "You're finally awake!"

"I missed you, too. Does my dad know you're here?" I nodded. I turned and looked, yet I could not find a trace of his father anywhere. Hiccup looked down at his legs, prompting me to follow his actions. They had completely grown back, as Fishlegs had predicted. Though, they were clearly no longer human. The feet more resembled hindpaws and the legs and thighs seemed far too bulky and rounded to belong on a human body, especially on a twig figure like Hiccup's.

He then reached behind him and drew something. It was a tail. One very similar, though much smaller than the one I had myself. There was little doubt about it now, Hiccup was becoming a Night Fury. As far as I was concerned, he deserved being one of the most powerful of Kin. "Well, I guess one of us is happy about this." Such a pity he does not feel the same way. That was when Hiccup dropped and turned his attention towards one of the walls, inexplicably? "Do you hear that?"

"Hear what?" I said, in confusion.

"That sound… I could feel, something…"

"Something?" I asked concerned. I might have had an idea of what it was, but it was too unreasonable to know.

"Help me up!" said Hiccup.

I helped him to his feet. Each of Hiccup's steps felt rather heavy and rather looked rather awkward. His legs might have been weak from having… well regrowing. And the tail, which was useless to Hiccup even though he could move it like an appendage. On one of my Kin, it might have provided balance and control during flying and swimming. It was simply too out of place on a mostly humanoid body to provide any real benefit. "I guess I am returning the favor…" I said. This all reminded me of the situation I was in when Hiccup showed me how to walk properly, only with everything reversed.

I carried Hiccup on my shoulders, providing the support he needed as he limped out of his own home. Each movement he took required lots of heavy breaths and delicate pacing. We stepped out of the house's threshold and into a moonless night.

In the darkness, I now suddenly remembered this place. I checked the night sky as I helped Hiccup hobble into the right position, hoping that I was wrong. The moon was gone. Swallowed completely by its black half. I helped Hiccup hobble in the a single direction. I had been in Hiccup's home settlement before, not as a guest, but as a Hunter. This place had been my second Hunt, chosen specifically for the fact that its proximity was so close to the Nest. There was another island nearby, where I had my first.

"I can't believe you cannot hear it. Whatever it is… it rattles me to the core," said my friend. "Do you have any idea what it is?"

"That would be the King." It is strange being so close to home, yet unable to reach it.

* * *

**Some mythology here, Valkyries aren't warriors, rather they are the caretakers of the dead warriors in Valhalla. That's what Snotlout was referencing.**

**Also, Stoick's action to NOT outright disowning his son is because of vastly different circumstances than in any of the canons. Hiccup did not fail a test or betray him as he did in the movie and because of nearly everything the boy did last chapter. Also, he does not know of Toothless being a dragon yet…**

**With the reveal of the Flightmare, a lot of Astrid's character can actually be traced towards that night. Granted, I don't think at this time that it's important, but I feel it's important to bring up and show that it does influence her.**

**And now, the whole story is completely off the rails.**


End file.
